First Contact
by Animus of Masada
Summary: An asari exploration vessel discovers Earth in the 2030's...and the first contact scenario has incredible implications for both species. What does humanity look like through alien eyes? Where do they go from here? /-AU: no Reapers, completely disconnected from the plot of the games, but mostly faithful to the setting. Told from many points of view.
1. Discovery

**A/N:** Hey all! Yes, I'm working on Adrift in a Sea of Stars, but I've been having this plot bunny in my head for a while, and it demanded to be written. It's an AT where asari/salarian explorers discover Earth in the 2020's. I won't make this a long series or anything, but I might be doing some one-shots in this continuity in the future. I apologize if this is lacking in polish-I just want to get this out there. See what you guys think of it before I put too much effort in. I plan to continue it for at least one more chapter.

EDIT: Changes made with regards to the Mars Mission for more accuracy. Again, not going for total realism here-it's not the point, especially since accuracy for that part isn't critical to the story.

EDIT2: Fixed a subtle-but-important grammatical error.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Houston, go for _Destiny_." Jason Mayfield rolled his shoulder back in a vain attempt to ease the tight muscles. They'd been in this relatively small craft for days, with significantly longer to go—by design, they were going to have to endure barely-adequate living conditions for the trip, as bigger modules required exponentially larger rockets to launch.

"_Roger. Routine check in. Any problems?"_

Jason ran a hand through his short black hair—he wasn't nervous, but just uncomfortable. One didn't get the best sleep aboard a craft like this for such a long journey. "Negative, Houston." Their discomfort wasn't a real problem—it was accounted and practiced for. The details would come with the mission debriefing.

"Morning!" A relatively short, brown-haired woman floated into the compartment next to him, sealed food in hand. Kate Ricefield—the main pilot (they were all trained for the task, but she specialized in it)—wore an unceasing grin on her light-skinned face. She was constantly energetic and upbeat—Jason supposed that was part of the reason why she was handpicked for this mission.

"Breakfast?" she questioned, offering a stick of egg-flavored protein mix. With a grumble, he took it. "You're awfully pleasant this morning," she remarked with a smirk.

"I just haven't gotten back in the right mindset yet. Too early in the morning." It was what they had all trained to do—think of things from a different perspective. They weren't living in tight, uncomfortable conditions, but hurtling towards Mars on the first ever manned mission. Every minute, they traveled further than any human being in history from Earth.

The joint NASA-ESA venture had proceeded mostly on schedule, launching in July of 2034. The massive Ares VII rocket—larger than any rocket ever launched—carried the new _Enterprise _capsule/lander (dubbed _Challenger_) and service module into orbit, quickly followed by a second launch containing the large, 123,000 miles-per-hour plasma engine. The craft, officially dubbed _Destiny 4_, was on its way to a rendezvous with history.

"Is Keigo up yet?" Jason inquired. The third member of the crew was a Japanese-American of average height and build, with short black hair typical of his ancestry.

"He's freshening up," Kate answered.

"As much as one can in a place like this," the mission commander quipped.

"It's almost time for the scheduled burn," Kate reminded.

Jason gazed out one of the viewports, examining their red target. "Almost there," he whispered.

* * *

Morlon stared as his console with anticipation—his favorite part of mission was coming up. Every time the _ESV Sialara_ jumped to a new system, their sensors would be flooded with new data. Within 30 seconds, he could tell if there was a planet definitely capable of sustaining complex organisms. While the exploration vessel's mission was to find new resources and astrological phenomena as well as life, everyone aboard hoped for the ultimate discovery of a new civilization.

"_All hands, prepare for jump."_

The Rachni Wars had resulted in a ban from exploring new areas of the galaxy, as well as activating dormant relays. But recently, a Council-commissioned think tank had concluded that they were better off establishing contact with new species sooner rather than later, in the hope that peaceful integration would be smoother. Besides, the report had mentioned, if a hostile race was out there, it was better that we found them, rather than they found us.

Just like the dozens of times before, the _Sialara_ completed the jump without incident. "Scanners?" Captain Wavela—an asari matron bearing simple, curvy white facial markings—looked tense. This window after each jump was usually held as the most revealing.

Morlon roved over the data readouts and imagery with vigor. "Large gas giant, typical healthy star, red planet with thin atmosphere and ice-form water… " his eyes bulged in realization. "I've—I've got a positive result here! Vast amounts of liquid water, thick atmosphere, large moon…scanning further."

All eyes were on him now on him, waiting with bated breath—this was by far the best result they had yet. The _Sialara_ was equipped with advanced sensing equipment, but simple math about the vast distances to cover made his effort moot. "We need to get closer," he concluded with a sigh.

Wavela nodded. "Ensign, take us into FTL. Bring us to within scanning distance—but not too close. I don't want to be detected yet, if there's anyone out there."

Ensign Nolera, another asari, though much younger, plotted a course.

It only took an hour to get within reasonable scanning distance, but it felt like an eternity for Morlon. _And_, he surmised, _the rest of the crew as well_. Even if no sentient life was found, it was likely a garden world ripe for colonization. Even if they found nothing else of particular value, this planet alone could justify the entire mission.

"Exiting FTL in 5, 4, 3, 2…" Nolera remained steady despite the slight lurch as the ship decelerated.

Once again, everyone looked upon the salarian officer. Morlon brought all of the long range scanning systems to bear, gathering as much data as possible. "Adjusting for solar glare…visuals show clouds, continents of land. Varied colors, and…" Morlon smiled. "…large amounts of radio signals."

The entire bridge crew drew a collective breath. "You're certain?" the captain asked, her voice low, almost in reverence.

"Unless the sensors are malfunctioning," the salarian responded. "I could get more definitive readings if we got close the plan—wait." A sharp beeping tone emanated from his console. "I've got a heat emission reading. Quite far from the planet, too!"

"Is it heading for us?" Wavela asked.

"No," Morlon clarified. "It's heading somewhere else…it's difficult to tell where, though. It's small."

"A comet, maybe?" Nolera suggested.

"Impossible," he countered. "Far too much heat for such a small size, and is distant from any planetary mass. Only logical explanation is artificial construction. Spacecraft."

Wavela smiled. "I think the radio signals combined with this make the likelihood of sentient life extremely high."

Nolera couldn't contain her excitement. "Can we get closer? To the planet?"

"One step at a time," Wavela soothed. Inside, however, she was giddy herself. It was exactly what they'd hoped for.

"Hold on," Morlon called. "The heat emission is gone. Scanning…target reacquired. Craft is small, but still traveling in roughly the same heading. It's certain, a spacecraft is the only possibility."

"Then let's contact the Council. Let them know we have a first contact scenario coming up," Wavela ordered. Her mind raced. A new sentient species, and a space-faring one at that. As far as timing went, it was ideal—the people of the world were obviously interested in space, exploration, and science. They were dependent on the Citadel Council government to interact with the galactic community, and would come to be comfortable with it over the years. Integration would be slow and steady, with both sides knowing about each other for decades before meeting in person.

Still, the questions came immediately. What were they like? Were they relatively peaceful, or violent like the krogan? Were they short and stout like the volus, or aquatic like the hanar? Did they have art? Music? Could they even hear sound? Were they insectoid? When it came to new alien species, hardly anything could be taken for granted.

Enara, the ship's communications officer, worked away at her console a few moments before looking up in alarm. "We've got a problem. I'm not detecting a relay to connect to."

_Damn._ Without an in-system relay, they would have to travel to adjacent systems to get back to Citadel space. However, the _Sialara_ was equipped with tight-beam FTL transmitters to allow for communication in such a situation. Still, without a comm-buoy network to link into (an obvious problem for deep-space explorers), she would have to keep the message brief. If the worst-case scenario were to occur—the new species killed the delegation and destroyed the _Sialara_—the Council would at least know the gist of what had happened and could send a containment force.

"Follow the spacecraft while I compose a message for the Council," Wavela directed. First contact was always tricky—landing in the wrong place could have serious repercussions on first impressions. It could even start a war. But the spacecraft offered a unique opportunity: the risk of disease would be nil out in space, where both parties would be in environmentally sealed suits. It also gave the impression that the new species discovered the advanced aliens, as opposed to the latter just landing at the former's home unannounced.

Her message was short and to the point. _New sentient species discovered. Space-faring, though in early stages. Will attempt first contact with alien exploratory spacecraft if permission granted. System also lacking Mass Relay._

Waiting for a reply would take time, though the captain supposed data about the spacecraft and its destination would satisfy some curiosity. With luck, they could even tap into its communications.

* * *

"Anything?" Wavela asked. They had gotten as close as they could while avoiding detection.

"Almost—got it. Broadcasting their communications on speaker," Enara triumphantly replied.

"—_ger that. Begin AEA checklist."_

"_Copy that. RCS is green, fuel at 96 percent capacity. Retrorockets are green. Parachutes—main, auxiliary, and reserve are green."_

Enara listened, fascinated. However, knowing that they couldn't actually understand any of what was being said, she cut off the speaker mode and allowed the crew to speculate about their findings.

"They obviously communicate verbally," Morlon observed. "No audio distortion. Aquatic species highly unlikely. Insectoid not likely either."

"They can't be that big, either," Nolera added. "Their ship isn't large enough for an elcor."

"But it's definitely large enough for us," Wavela pointed out.

"Really?" the young asari asked. "Traveling for days in that tiny thing? With no a-grav? Must be terrible."

"Our people did too, once," the captain reminded. She turned to Enara. "Can you get video feeds?"

"I'm trying," the communications officer replied. "Give me a minute."

Wanting to make the wait bearable, Wavela turned to Morlon. "Any new data?"

"Indeed," the salarian replied with a smile. "I detected dozens of satellites in orbit around their planet, as well as two small space stations. Both are solar powered." His grin faltered slightly as he conveyed the first bit of bad news, though. "But…large amounts of orbital debris. Dangerous to approach without kinetic barriers. I wonder how they manage."

The asari captain looked concerned. "Debris…from combat?"

"Impossible to know for certain," he replied. "Could be from short-sighted procedures in launching and operating satellites. Could be that satellites were destroyed by surface-based weapons. Or yes, it could be from space warfare. Or something else entirely."

Wavela sighed. Of course she had to stop being so blindly optimistic—civil wars were at least somewhat common in the histories of all sentient species. _Some more than others,_ she added, thinking of the krogan.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an announcement from the communications officer. "No video feed. Looks like their ship isn't equipped with it. Or they're not transmitting. Either way, there's nothing to see."

Morlon sighed in disappointment. "Could you turn their audio back on? It's better than nothing."

A nod later, and the voices returned.

"—_y again? Second object?"_

"_Affirmative. We are tracking a second object in your general vicinity. We're looking into it, but keep an eye out."_

"_Any idea what we're dealing with?"_

"_Negative. We'll pass along the details as we get them. In the meantime, run an entry system diagnostic."_

"_Roger that. Destiny out."_

Wavela turned to Enara, curious about the silence. "What happened?"

Checking her console, she answered. "Nothing on our end. They've just stopped transmitting."

They sat in silence for over a minute, wondering when they could next get an insight into this new species. Finally, Enara broke it. "Incoming message on the comms."

Wavela walked over to the console, reading the message. A moment of analysis confirmed that it was from the Council.

_Permission granted. Adhere to protocols where you deem applicable. Good luck._

Enara was resisting the urge to jump in her seat. First contact!

"Continue our present course," the captain ordered.

The younger asari gaped at her captain. "What?"

"We're hardly in a situation to conduct first contact," she explained. "We'll wait until they land."

"That could take days." Her protests nearly died on her lips, but she couldn't help but voice them.

"Then we'll wait. We've got plenty to study in the meantime."

* * *

Jason turned to Keigo and Kate the moment he finished his transmission. "What do you think?"

"Asteroid," Keigo replied. "They should be able to track it effectively in time for us to maneuver out of the way if we need to."

"I'm not so sure," Kate said. "Wouldn't they have just told us if it was an asteroid?"

"Come on," he chided, "they have to confirm it first. They don't make assumptions. You know how it works."

"Just saying, it _might_ be something more exciting than a rock."

"I think our mission is plenty exciting enough," Jason interrupted. "Alright. We're supposed to be running a diagnostic."

"Work, work, work…" Keigo muttered, though his smirk belied his tone.

* * *

It wasn't until the _Destiny_ neared Mars orbit that they received an update on the mystery object.

No new details about the object itself were found, except that it had maintained a steady course—parallel to the _Destiny_.

Unless it was an asteroid on a one in a million trajectory with highly coincidental timing, NASA concluded that they were dealing with something artificial.

The news wasn't kept secret—live coverage of the mission was being broadcasted world-wide (though most of the time, only mission control was shown). Soon after, heated discussion about aliens dominated the news cycles.

The crew of the _Destiny_ were told to proceed with the mission as planned—but also received a hastily-written protocol on first contact.

Still, they couldn't help the darker jokes from being told. "You think they're just trolling us?" Keigo asked, after the protocols had been received.

"How so?" Jason asked.

"I mean, they could have blasted us out of the sky at any time. Maybe they're just waiting till we land, for shits and giggles."

"_Or_," Kate suggested, "they aren't out to kill us."

"That'd be nice," Jason joined in. "Maybe we ought to thank them for not killing us simply for existing."

Keigo shifted his head over to the mission commander, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Why don't we?"

Kate shifted her head back and forth at the two men. "You're _serious_?"

Jason maintained eye contact with his crewmember for several moments before relenting. "They're never gonna go for this..." Switching the transmitter, he began his request. "Houston, this is _Destiny_. Requesting permission to transmit a greeting to unidentified object, on all frequencies."

"_Uh, copy that, _Destiny_. Stand by."_

"They're gonna have to get permission from the president for that, right?" Kate asked, still in disbelief.

"Probably," Keigo answered.

"What are we even going to say? 'Hello'?"

"It's not like they could understand what we're saying," Keigo countered. "Or, if they've been observing us for a long time, they _can_, in which case they already know what's going on. Either way, it's not like it matters what we say."

"Oh? And what do you have in mind?"

"Maybe, 'look, baby, this whole silent stalker thing is really creeping me out.'"

She stared at him, dumbfounded, for several moments. "Sure. Why the hell not. And if it doesn't result in war, then maybe it will be the most hilarious thing in the history books."

"That's what I'm going for."

* * *

Morlon had occupied himself over the hours by analyzing everything else in the solar system, as well as the visual scans of the alien spacecraft.

Enara merely listened in on the transmissions. Occasionally, she'd broadcast them over speaker when something new—such as new tones, or new speakers—came up. The rest of the crew was extremely excited. In a matter of hours, they'd establish first contact with a new species.

So when Enara announced that they were receiving a transmission broadcasted on all frequencies, activity skyrocketed.

"They actually _know we're here_?" Wavela asked, shocked.

"Apparently. Here, I'll put the broadcast on speaker."

"_This is _Destiny 4_, transmitting to whatever alien presence might be listening, if you're out there: Look, baby, this whole silent stalker thing is really creeping us out. When are you going to come out and play?"_

There was a brief pause before the voice continued. _"…I can't believe I just said that."_

"Any idea what they're saying?" the captain asked Enara.

"None," she answered. "Though it sounds like one of the voices we've been listening in on."

Wavela paced across the bridge, thinking. "How did they detect us?"

"Perhaps their sensors and satellites are more advanced than we thought," Morlon offered. "We _are_ traveling parallel to one of their ships. If they're monitoring the ship, they might have picked us up as well."

"Shouldn't we respond back?" Enala suggested. "First contact protocol says that silence in response—"

"Could be construed as hostility. I know," her superior finished. "Very well. Prepare to send a return message. Record…now. 'This is Captain Wavela of the _ESV Sialara_. Welcome to the galactic community. We look forward to mutual advancement and cooperation in the millennia to come.'" She signaled an end to the recording, and Enara sent the message off.

* * *

"_This is Captain Wavela of the ESV Sialara. Welcome to the galactic community. We look forward to mutual advancement and cooperation in the millennia to come."_

Jason didn't move. He still couldn't comprehend the monumental event that had just transpired. Though it came through as nothing but gibberish, it was clearly an alien language…_alien_.

Keigo, however, took it in stride. "See? Told you it would work."

"Uhh…," Kate scratched her temples, trying to wrap her head around it all. "What now, exactly?"

"Houston," Jason spoke, "please advise."

"No shit," Keigo whispered.

"_Uh…_Destiny_, your directive is to the keep talking. Try and sound friendly."_

_Not that they'd even understand our tones,_ Jason mused. "Copy that, Houston." He shrugged, turning to Keigo. "Alright, your turn. Have fun."

* * *

"_You know, one day we're going to look back on this and laugh, once we realize what we were saying to each other. If you even _can_ laugh. Or maybe laughing is a sign of hostility for your species. Guess that's why they call it 'alien', right?"_

Wavela smiled—they were communicating back and forth now. Even though neither knew what the other was saying, communication itself was a great sign.

"I _really_ wish I could understand what they're saying," Enara said for the twentieth time.

_We have to keep replying. Diplomatic,_ Wavela reminded herself. "Time for another message. 'We are glad you are communicating with us. Though we cannot understand each other yet, this is an important step towards building a healthy relationship between our species.'"

It only took a minute for another reply.

"_Your language sounds interesting. Kind of like French. And you know what they say: everything sounds sexier in French. I went to a French club in high school for that reason. Some pretty cute girls there. I sucked at the language, though. Spanish was always easier for me."_

"Maybe they're sending their first contact protocol messages, too?" Enara asked.

"That is what I am guessing," Wavela replied. "I can't wait to get a translation."

* * *

Kate and Jason could barely contain their laughter. It was all so…so _wrong_ for first contact to be going like _this_. But at the same time, it felt like the human thing to do. Still, they couldn't imagine what the people back on Earth were thinking of this.

Keigo was, as usual, taking it in stride. "I bet you guys have artificial gravity on that ship. And big rooms. And _good food_. Don't get me wrong, zero-g is pretty fun, but it makes sleeping a bit difficult. This craft isn't exactly spacious, you know what I mean?"

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, it kind of had a silly undertone. Though really, Keigo's logic was sound-if they had been observing humanity long enough to understand their language, it wouldn't matter if they were silly or serious (in reality, being silly would be disarming too, it's certainly not hostile). And if they hadn't, then they wouldn't understand any of what was being said. And they just improvised.

**Please let me know what you think! Should I continue with this?**


	2. Understanding

**Chapter 2: Understanding**

* * *

They kept talking back and forth for another couple minutes before stopping. After all, there was scant little to talk about when they knew nothing about each other.

And couldn't even understand each other, but one thing at a time.

NASA decided to continue the mission as planned, and two days later, they landed the _Challenger_ on the surface of the red planet.

Kate had been chosen to be the first human to set foot on Mars, largely on account of her gender, and because there was no outstanding reason for the other two to get the honor.

The original planned message had to be changed in light of recent events, but the crew felt good about it regardless. "I take this step for _all_ of humanity. May we prosper together and spread across the stars, side by side with all of our friends, human and alien."

Sure, they reasoned, it had been making quite a few assumptions about the first contact and the aliens, but in this time of uncertainty and even chaos, hopeful words of reassurance were very much needed.

Mars, unlike Luna, had gravity similar to Earth's. Still, as the three explorers watched the _Sialara_ glide down to the surface effortlessly, despite its comparatively huge size, they almost needed to remind themselves of that fact.

They broadcasted a video feed of the event straight to Earth. Despite the 40 second delay, it was one of the most important, if not _the_ most important broadcasts in human history. The alien ship was slightly aerodynamic in structure, with a wide, ovular body. The brilliant shade of gray-blue reflected the red surface with jarring contrast.

A ramp opened at the bottom of the vessel, and out stepped two figures. Kate looked at them in wonder—they were definitely humanoid, with proportions roughly similar to their own. But they looked slightly different from each other—it was difficult to tell at a distance.

* * *

Wavela had chosen Morlon to accompany her for the in-person greeting. Keeping their numbers low was an important sign of non-hostility. However, showing that their kind comprised of multiple species displayed a clear sign that they represented cooperation and coexistence.

As she exited the ramp, she got her first real look at the new species. They were in environmentally sealed suits, though how much of their figures were from the bulk of the suits was unknown. Still, they had roughly similar proportions to the Council races—a good and comforting sign.

She walked towards them slowly, but inside, her heart and mind were running in overdrive. Nothing could be taken for granted. A gesture of friendly greeting could be interpreted as a sign of hostility.

She stopped about two meters away. The _Sialara_'s suits were designed to make their faces visible, and she turned down her visor's opacity. They were both transmitting on a frequency they had established over the past two days.

"_It's blue!" _one of the voices said.

"_Eyes, mouth…the resemblance in facial structure is remarkable…"_

"_Hey, the other one is different! Big, black eyes, no nose…but still pretty similar, all things considered."_

"_Perhaps we should return the favor?"_

"_Oh, yeah."_

"_Right."_

The young species raised their own visors, giving Wavela her first true look at them. She could barely contain her excitement when she saw—very close facial structure resemblance with her own species, but with a unique and entirely different skin tone. In particular, they appeared to feature fine stands of fiber (or something, she couldn't tell) on their faces and heads. One of them, however, had differently colored fiber strands; she wondered how much variety their species held in that regard.

Now up close, she could see that their hands-also shaped with remarkable similarity-had five fingers, just like the asari. Really, the similarities were absolutely astonishing-the odds seemed so long.

* * *

Jason began true communications, as directed by the newly written protocols. He pointed to himself. "Jason." Then to his crew members in turn: "Keigo. Kate." Then, he did the same thing again, but saying "human" each time.

To their relief, the aliens seemed to understand. The blue one pointed at herself. "Wavela." Then, she pointed to her companion. "Morlon." Then she repeated the gestures, saying, "Asari. Salarian."

Jason wasn't sure if they truly understood each other—he didn't know if Wavela was referring to her species when she said "asari" or if she was referring to a second name of some kind. Or something else entirely. Still, he kept trying. Pointing to his homeworld, he said, "Earth."

Wavela pointed somewhere off in the distance. "Thessia."

Again, he wasn't sure they were on the same page, but he proceeded with the assumption that they were. He pointed down. "Mars."

She—he guessed it was a she, as her features looked feminine—repeated his gesture. "Mars," she said.

He then held out his hand, hoping she would go along with the gesture.

* * *

Wavela was giddy. The new species—_human_—had initiated attempts at understanding of their own volition. She now knew what she guessed were their names, as well as the name of their homeworld, and the planet they currently stood on.

But when Jason held his hand forward, she was at a complete loss. She had no idea what to do—what did the gesture mean? What she supposed to respond? And if so, how?

It was a no-win scenario, with a million _faux pas_ possible. But the humans weren't armed, and she had her biotics. She told herself to just try her best.

After a few moments of hesitation, she decided to mirror the gesture. She held her arm out, hand open, palm sideways, hoping she had made the right move.

Evidently, she had. The human grasped her hand with his, and gave it several firm shakes before withdrawing his arm back to his side.

"Handshake," he said.

She wasn't sure if this was still part of the gesture, or if it was a word of greeting. Still, she decided it best to mirror his actions again. "Handshake," she said, though with some awkward effort at matching his pronunciation.

The human smiled—or at least, made the same actions an asari would to smile. With this species, she had no idea if it meant the same thing at all.

"_So, uh, what now?"_ One of the humans said, facing Jason. _"You gonna play patty-cake or something?"_

"_That doesn't sound half-bad," _the third one said. _"Though I'd go with Rock-Paper-Scissors."_

Wavela felt that it was time for the melding—but doing so would inevitably be risky.

Each Council-commissioned exploration vessel carried at least one asari capable of learning a language (as well as other information) through melding alone. It was a skill that took years to master, even for a talented asari well-suited for the task. It obviously helped a great deal in establishing understandable communication between two species, but it had its limitations. Several meldings were required to get a fluent understanding of the language, and even then, only information in the mind of the melding partner could be learned.

She stepped forward toward Jason, tentatively. All eyes were on her, now. Stopping merely a foot away, she looked him in the eye. "Jason," she said, hoping to lessen his worries. She placed her hands on the sides of his helmet, and began the meld, hoping no one would interfere.

He naturally resisted, making her efforts exhausting. Still, when he finally acquiesced to the meld, she accessed a wealth of information. Focusing on the language first, she began learning all that she could, until her body grew weak through exertion.

Finally, she ended the meld, taking a shaky step back. "Forgive me," she said, now speaking English. It was difficult to pronounce—she knew what words to say, but not how to move her muscles, joints, and tendons to make the sounds. "The melding is…intense."

"You're speaking ENGLISH, now?" Kate yelled, startled.

"Wait, melding?" Keigo wondered. "Like the Vulcans, in Star Trek! Cool!"

Wavela stared at him. She knew nothing about this "star trek." "It is an ability of my species. I trained to learn languages from it."

"That's insane," Kate countered, baffled. "You can _meld_ _minds_? How is that even _possible_?"

The asari was patient in her answer. "My species has innate control over our nervous systems. I melded my nervous system with his, in order to gain a decent understanding of your language. That skill takes extensive training to develop."

Kate seemed to accept her explanation, though Wavela could tell she still had something she wished to say…more questions, perhaps? She wasn't used to explaining one of the most basic and fundamental bodily functions of her species to others; it seemed so…_normal_.

Jason, having recovered from the ordeal, looked at her in awe and confusion. "That was…woah. I don't even know how to begin."

"Wow," Keigo interrupted. "This means we can, you know, actually _talk_. So…your name is Wavela, right?"

"Yes," she answered. "Wavela Nayla. And the name of my species is 'asari.' Morlon," she gestured to him, "is a salarian."

"How many alien species are there?" Kate asked.

"That we know of? Including yours…ten." She decided to leave out the Rachni and the Geth…they were complicated matters, and would only serve to incite panic and suspicion.

That revelation resulted in a collective gasp from the humans. "_Ten?_" Kate gaped. "_Wow._"

"Are they all…humanoid?"

Wavela answered Keigo's question with ease, understanding the word due to its prevalence in Jason's mind. "No. The hanar are aquatic, and the elcor are much larger than you or I and walk on all four of their limbs." After a pause to let that information sink in, she had a question of her own. "I am curious…what did you say to me over the radio before we arrived here?"

To her surprise, the human she knew as Keigo physically reacted to her question: his face turned a shade of red, and he looked down uncomfortably. The other merely laughed.

"You're on your own for this one, Keigo," Jason said. She got the distinct impression that he was…amused.

"Uhh…can we…talk about this later?"

"Of course," the asari quickly replied.

Jason observed the other alien—Morlon—say something to his companion in an unknown language. Wavela nodded in his direction before speaking up. "It is time for us to depart, for now. Do not worry, we will be close by. We have reports to make, and you have a mission to complete."

"Indeed we do," Jason said, before the others could object. "It has been an honor meeting you."

"Likewise," Wavela said, bowing slightly for emphasis. "We will be in contact." With that, they turned around and headed to their ship, which lifted off into the stars shortly after.

* * *

The entire crew of the _Sialara_ was waiting outside the airlock for news of the meeting.

Morlon deferred to his superior to begin the debriefing, but to his amusement, she simply smiled as she changed out of the hardsuit, obviously enjoying the protests of her crew.

Finally, she decided to end their suffering. "It went very well," she reported, to the wide grins of her crew. "They're remarkably similar to asari in appearance, though still very noticeably different. I have successfully gained a sufficient grasp of their language, as well."

"What's it like?" Enala asked eagerly. As a communications officer, it was no surprise that she had a fascination with languages.

Wavela gazed upward in thought, trying to put words to an answer even more abstract than her recent encounter. "It's…inconsistent. Hard and soft, sharp and smooth, all at the same time. It's simple in some ways, but very subtly complex in others."

"In other words," Nolera summed up, "it's a new language. You're making it sound all special and amazing; I feel like I'm watching some cheap romance vid."

"She answered to the best of her ability," Morlon chided. "Can you honestly say she is wrong?"

The blunt asari lowered her head in embarrassment—she'd been way out of line with that last sentence. Even if the crew was less formal than a military one, she had disrespected her older and wiser superior. "Forgive me," was all she managed to say.

"You are forgiven," the captain gently said. Wanting to break the awkwardness, she immediately redirected the conversation back on topic. "I am very curious…now that I understand their language, I wish to know what they said to us during our first contact."

"I'll go replay the recordings," Enala said, dashing back to the bridge with the air of an excited child. It only took a moment for the voices to be played out on the ship-wide intercom.

"Well?" she asked, having returned to find out as much information about this species as possible.

Wavela, as a five hundred year old, professional officer, could only respond by doubling over, laughing, much to the utter bewilderment of her crew.

* * *

**A/N:** Here's chapter two. I'll be continuing this story, but I'm not sure how long I'll do so.

I have to reiterate that first contact with an alien species is mind-boggling complicated-you can't take anything for granted. But to have first contact in such an odd situation, with no time to prepare? Very difficult. So Jason had to wing it, as he had in-the-field discretion, which pretty much trumps any specific orders.

As for the mind meld thing, that is very possible in the ME verse. Remember the Cipher? That makes learning a language (or most of it) easy, by comparison, especially given that she's trained for years to hone that skill.

**I hope you enjoy! Please review!**


	3. Paradox

**Chapter 3: Paradox**

"_Human-Military Philosophy Analysis" by Dukal Ragat, for public distribution; human year est. 2035_

_*Noted as first in-depth analysis of human military philosophies and practices_

_The military philosophies of every species are well-known to even the average citizen, due to their simplicity and distinctness. When I first started this analysis, I was expecting to find a similar pattern._

_I was unfathomably wrong._

_While military philosophies change over time for every species, particularly in their early history, humanity's military philosophy seems to be entirely contextual. In some conflicts, civilian casualties of any kind are strongly looked down upon, and in some cases, are even considered "war crimes." In other conflicts, bombing civilian population centers with nuclear devices were not only acceptable, but potentially justifiable. _

_The salarians introduced the concept of "total war" to the galactic community, and the krogan expanded upon it (though even the krogan have rules about warfare). Humanity, however, currently operates on the paradox that war should be governed by some rules, except when certain lines are crossed…at which point, nothing is forbidden._

_Before I continue, I must reiterate that humanity's military philosophies are highly varied and contextual, and thus very difficult to categorize. _

_It is also important to understand that the lines I referred to above are not ones which can be _accidentally_ crossed. They are clear and easily understandable. As best as I can understand, they are:_

_1) Threatening the survival and/or freedom of the opposing group_

_2) Unacceptable treatment of civilians and noncombatants (to what degree, however, depends on the circumstances and opinions of those involved)_

_3) Committing acts so reprehensible as to evoke hatred amongst the general population of the opposing group_

_4) Being the aggressor of the conflict_

_Crossing those lines, or even some of them, results in the human concept of total war, whereupon the entire population, its resources, and geography are all considered to make up the entity which must be defeated. _

_When this type of warfare commences, I believe that humanity becomes the most ruthless, efficient, and powerful of all the currently known species. They will do whatever it takes to win, and do it with such skill and thoroughness that one wonders how the two groups ever reconcile._

_And that, to my eternal curiosity, is where humanity is perhaps the most surprising. Enemies can become friends astonishingly quickly and deeply. In the cases I studied, the process is simple. When the perceived threat is gone, sympathy replaces hatred and fear. Instead of bringing destruction, the victorious side brings aid and protection. Instead of ruthless domination, the victorious side ensures that the defeated side will not become a threat again through removing that which created the conflict in the first place, and then leave. When done correctly, the two sides can even become staunch allies._

_That is not to say that this is what generally occurs. As I have tried to explain thus far, human military philosophy is highly varied and contextual. Sometimes—even in somewhat recent times—the victorious side will systematically wipe out resistance ruthlessly and through any and all means possible. _

…_skipping to Section 6: "War Is Hell"…loading…done…_

_A famous phrase in human culture adequately describes the current, consensus attitude towards warfare in general: war is hell. "Hell" began as a religious concept, wherein the people who had committed sinful acts were condemned to a place of suffering, hopelessness, and terror. The term has become more secular than religious in modern times, and is a commonly used swear word. _

_Another famous phrase explains the developing cultural trend: "war is not hell, for in hell, innocence is spared."_

_It is important to note that war has become increasingly less frequent in recent human history, and lesser in scale as well. War was once treated as glorious, honorable, and even patriotic. Today, it is generally considered to be a last resort, and even then, something to be ended as quickly as possible. That ideal, unfortunately, is highly dependent on the context of the situation, and is not always practiced._

…_skipping to Section 8: "Rock, Paper, Scissors"…loading…_

* * *

Some jobs have perks.

Others _need_ them.

Vellis, with hundreds of years of experience and practice, could have fallen asleep if she really wanted to. But times like these mandated a different approach.

Sitting in the softly lit room, lavishly decorated by plants and slow-moving fountains, the asari councilor sipped her tea with a wistful smile.

"I thought that you, of the three of us, would have urged a slower approach," a rough but friendly voice spoke. The turian was her only company—Councilor Rollick, my cultural mandate, had to consult with his dalatrasses. Times like these were very pleasant, standing in direct contrast to the stress and pressures of their jobs.

Here, they were old friends, with so much in common, despite the overt differences that eyesight would suggest. "Standard first contact protocol is a test in itself—if they react negatively to neutral greetings from multiple species, they are dangerously paranoid."

"Perhaps," Pasir allowed. "But when dealing with alien species, very little can be taken for granted."

Vellis sighed, fatigue settling into her features; whether it was from the work of the day or the situation at hand, she didn't know. She stared at her cup, eyes distant in an expression Pasir knew all too well.

He didn't have to say it, for they knew it all too well. Not even they were all-knowing or all-wise, and even then things could go wrong against all odds. They, like most organic beings, simply did their best and weathered the storm.

A distinct beeping sound emanated from the omnipads on the table. It only took a few moments for her to access the message.

—_First contact successful. Species is called "human." Appears to be similarly proportioned to asari, with similar skin type. Two genders. All knowledge so far indicates that they are culturally compatible. Additionally, they initiated first contact through simple hand gestures, speech, and logic. They also appear to have a cultural similarity to melding—the concept was not distinctly foreign to them, though they were surprised we were capable of it._

_They…also appear to have quite the sense of humor. I've attached a rough translation of our first "conversation" from a few days ago.—_

"It seems your choice was correct after all," Pasir remarked, his features molding into the turian equivalent of a smile.

"I'm relieved," Vellis answered. "The news is very good to hear."

"I am very curious about their familiarity with melding," the turian replied, eyes now back on the asari. "Perhaps they are capable of it themselves? Maybe their surprise was that other species could do it as well."

"If they _can_ do it, things will certainly be…interesting," Vellis said with a snort.

"To put it mildly." Pasir glanced back at his omnipad. "Wavela said that she had a rough translation of their first radio conversation? Hopefully that might give us a clue…"

Vellis' eyes grew continually wider as she read on, finally unable to hold in her laughter at the end. Pasir couldn't manage to form words, though for a different reason entirely.

_To—to _joke_ on such an occasion…it—unfathomable!_ the turian thought, unable to vocalize his feelings.

* * *

"So much for a normal presidency."

"Is there even such a thing?"

Both adults chuckled. "Still, how many have to deal with aliens?" The woman, in her fifties, looked rather good for her age. She carried herself with an authoritative, professional presence, her brown hair kept short and convenient.

"In all fairness, Ms. President, the issue isn't really ours to deal with, if you get what I mean."

President Shelton a slight, relaxed sigh as she looked at her Chief of Staff. "Still, people are going to be looking to the world leaders for direction. What we say matters a great deal." She turned to another person in the room, dressed simply but formally with several folders in hand. "Have we reestablished contact with the ship?"

"They seem to want to communicate through the _Destiny_. Our experts say this is to avoid the complications of trying to figure out who to talk to."

Shelton nodded in understanding. "Makes sense. Do we at least know where they are?"

"Mars orbit," the scientist answered. His tone became much lighter as he continued. "All indications point towards neutral activity. They don't want to incite anything. And the fact that there are multiple species on that ship working together without any easily visible problems…"

"Then they at least are unlikely to want to wipe us out," Shelton concluded. "Still…" she took a seat, suddenly feeling more weary than she had in weeks. "If they wanted to force us into submission, is there anything we can really do about it?"

The scientist sat on one of the two couches in the room, sighing. "Not particularly. At least, nothing that would give us a victory. We could resist on the ground, but in the end we have no way of attacking them unless they come down to us." He leaned back, his expression easing up. "But that's assuming that they're looking to attack us. If that was there goal, then giving us warning about it through this situation wouldn't make much sense, from a military standpoint. So," he concluded, his features continuing to relax, "we're hopeful."

* * *

Seeing the _Sialara_ descend to the Martian surface a second time wasn't breath-taking, but it certainly gave him the chills. Even being the second person in history to set foot on Mars didn't compare with meeting other intelligent life.

This time, the three of them knew what would happen ahead of time. He and Wavela had arranged for the three humans to get a tour of the salarian vessel—notably without their suits. According to Wavela, the crew had spent hours disinfecting the ship to make the chances of cross-species infection negligible.

Kate had rigged a shaky-cam to stream a video feed to NASA through _Destiny_ for the occasion.

"Okay, I get that it's alien, but _how is it hovering without upward thrust?_" Keigo blurted.

"Compared to FTL travel, _that's_ got to be easy," Kate answered.

The _Sialara_ touched down as its entry ramp descended. A familiar voice crackled through their radios. _"I apologize for not meeting you in person, but as I am sure you know, suiting up for uninhabitable environments is not a quick task…"_

All three astronauts answered with a chuckle. "We're on our way," John replied, heading for the ramp.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm going to be inserting random scenes or essays into the story to flesh out the "world" a bit more, and to give you some other perspectives.

Wavela is speaking good English after only one melding because she's just that good at the skill mentioned last chapter. That, and putting in minor mistakes in a site like this would more likely be interpreted as bad writing/editing than an artistic choice. Also, understand that the "analysis" at the top is not going to be perfectly accurate; it is an initial analysis from an alien perspective, and we aren't even seeing the whole essay.

**Please review! It gives me the motivation to write more!** Thank you for your support so far! It's really been amazing :)**  
**


	4. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

**Chapter 4: Blood, Sweat, and Tears**

* * *

…_perhaps most interesting of these is how humanity views itself. It is not pride that is most often found, but shame and disgust. They are more critical of themselves as a species than any in Citadel space. Many popular works portray humans as the antagonists of the story, sometimes going as far as to portray them as destructive, incomprehensible, giant beings that destroy the lives of those around them._

_The obvious next step would be to analyze how human media deal with the issue of alien life. As are most things human, the portrayals vary greatly. Instead, I want to focus on a particularly interesting case that surprised me even with the above mentality._

_This series, named Star Wars, was a six-part movie series that dealt with a plethora of issues, from empire and resistance to love and patience. The series was extremely popular for decades, to the point of even being iconic decades after its ending. But it was its portrayal of aliens (especially in relation to humans) that fascinated me most._

_In short, it was irrelevant. The aliens were numerous and diverse, but their existence wasn't even a noteworthy aspect of the plot. Racism was minor and in the background at all times, and seeing a human and alien working alongside each other was treated the same way as two humans working together. Aliens were protagonists and antagonists, as well as irrelevant and important side characters. It was a true galactic community where being of a certain race mattered less than what kind of person one was. And despite the unusual and incredible message that portrayal sends, it was never a much-discussed aspect of the series. It simply existed, and the creators and audience left it at that._

_That is why, I argue, humans are ready for guided, gradual integration into the galactic community. On a cultural level, they have been prepared for quite a while. Instead of frightened or suspicious, they have on the whole been continually eager to be a part of this community. They want to learn, debate, discover, and interact so much that they are disappointed that they will likely not live to see the day in which their dream of full integration is a reality._

_So I propose activism on our part. Let the businesses and think tanks bring humans into our world so that we may learn just as much from them as they learn from us. Let those experiences be relayed to Earth, the human homeworld, so as to bridge the gaps between us faster. The famous ideal proclaimed by the first Council states that different perspectives are vital to the growth and stability of the galactic community—and the human perspectives are undoubtedly fascinating. If the past three years have showed us anything about humanity, it's that they'd rather see our movies than our weapons. Their most recent official request was to send musicians to study Thessian music and make the resulting, asari-inspired music freely available on the human internet and the galactic extranet. Do those who fear a repeat of the krogan uplifting really consider an action like that a threat? If they do, how can they distinguish that action from the ones other species do every day?_

_The current policy of open sharing of ideas has proven immensely successful and popular, especially amongst humanity. Given their recent history regarding their "internet" and the sociocultural changes it has wrought, it seems that humans thrive in this kind of environment instinctually._

* * *

_Citadel, Zakera Ward, two months after First Contact_

Wavela did something highly uncharacteristic for a supposedly graceful asari matron and let a slew of curses fly. She could practically feel the blue blood seeping from her chest, but she ignored it and leveled her pistol down the hallway. If they were going to kill her, she was going to die fighting.

She tried to find solace in the thought that Kate, at least, was safe, but she had no way of knowing if it was true. Hopefully she had managed to reach the others. Buying her time to do that was the whole point of this, so she might as well make it count.

The sounds of footsteps—dozens of them—grew gradually louder by the second. Against numbers like these, even getting a few shots off would be meaningless. In the mere moments she had left to live, she nearly laughed at the bitter irony surrounding the circumstances of her death. Wavela could only imagine the unintentional humor the headlines would carry.

Her assailants opened the door at the far end of the hallway, guns leveled. She fired her weapon, only to see the first round impact harmlessly against a kinetic barrier. A few of them realized where the shot had come from and trained their weapons on her.

She didn't hear the loud bang before everything went white.

* * *

_Mars, First Contact, ongoing_

Wavela and many others met the humans—still clad in their bulky environment suits—at the airlock doors. The asari captain was quick to offer her greetings. "Welcome, John, Kate, and Keigo, to the ESV Sialara. I'll give you time to remove your suits before I let the rest of the crew swarm you—," she turned and glared at the crowding group, "—and help you if I may."

To her delight, her actions elicited laughter from the three humans. "We appreciate that," Kate responded, camera on her shoulder. "I thought the glare was a nice touch."

They began the lengthy process of removing the suits, piece by piece. Ensign Nolera organized a group to bring padded storage boxes for the environment suits to be placed in for the duration of the stay.

"You know," Keigo mentioned as he removed a boot, "who would have thought that aliens would be visiting us…on Mars?"

"That is a rather hilarious reversal," John was forced to admit.

Wavela didn't understand what they meant at all, beyond a literal translation. She did, however, find the regularly used significant-emphasis on individual words fascinating from a linguistic standpoint.

As they finally finished the process, Wavela was taken completely aback by the human forms—Kate, in particular. The tight-fitting clothing they wore under their environment suits revealed just how remarkably similar Kate's figure was from that of the asari's. Aside from the odd yet fascinating physical feature that hung from the top of her head, only the skin tone stood out as an indicator of an alien species.

She also tried to stifle the subconscious physical and mental reactions of infatuation at the sight of Kate without a bulky environment suit in the way.

Five seconds later, she settled for pushing them aside.

John opted to take the camera, so Kate took the lead with formal greetings. Wavela noted that human skin felt unnaturally wet—she couldn't hide her surprise, and Kate picked up on it. "Is something wrong?"

The asari regained her composure quickly. "No, no. I was just surprised by…the texture of your skin. It's more moist than I had guessed."

For a second, the humans gave her strange looks before understanding dawned just as clearly upon their faces. "Oh," Kate blurted, letting out a short chuckle. "That's just sweat. Being stuck in a space suit tends to do that to a person."

"Sweat?"

Keigo answered quickly, sounding less enthusiastic than usual for some reason. "Our method of temperature regulation; it's mostly water carrying excess heat out of the body to evaporate into the air."

That concept intrigued Wavela thoroughly. Especially, she noted, from the point of view of an asari, whose species had distant aquatic origins. One question ate at her more than others: how did such a mechanism not cause fast dehydration?

Deciding to leave the extensive mutual questioning for later, Wavela began the tour in earnest.

* * *

_…we must be cautious. Do not misunderstand me—I believe humanity will successfully integrate with the galactic community in time. However, acting rashly through a "guided uplift" approach will have disastrous consequences. Earth is highly divided, both culturally and politically. They can't even agree on where to build spaceports, for entirely political reasons. The human homeworld is not a playground for which our megacorporations to play in. Their ideas, as great as they may be, are largely incompatible to our civilization due to the technological differences._

_In time, that will change. But we must learn from the mistakes of our past and think about the consequences of our every action, lest we cause irreparable harm to humanity and its potential._

* * *

A/N: Still short, I know. But I'm hoping to release updates more frequently, and this approach has helped on a personal level.

About the sweat thing-as far as I know, no other species is known to do that in ME. And not all species on Earth do. And since they're, you know, alien, I figured I'd mix things up a little. Sorry if it seems unrealistic.

The "articles" are obviously conflicting points of view. As in, not written by the same person. Geddit?

The Star Wars thing was interesting for me. I always thought it interesting how the aliens are just...there. As protagonists, antagonists, extras, etc, without it being even a significant aspect of the films.

Please review! Tell me what you think! :)


	5. Black and Blue

A/N: Yeah, I'm not dead. I was just focused on one of my other stories and a slew of personal health issues. Special thanks goes to Lesser Ninja for motivating me to get this chapter out at the exact time I started getting back in a writing mood.

Okay, some things to get out of the way first:

You guys are awesome. Really, this story was just an idea I got and put out there. At the time, I didn't think it would go anywhere at all, but it has been an absolute joy to see so many interested in the same kind of idea. Really, I always wanted to see a story like this, but I couldn't find any. Thus, I wrote my own :P

About the Big Lipped Alligator Moment in the last chapter-no it wasn't some random drama out of nowhere, it was an experiment in anachronic order. It's not necessarily a different story, but it's just a different kind of plot line that fits within this continuity. I realize now that I introduced it too early, but what's done is done, so I went ahead with it. If you couldn't tell already, I've made some rather embarrassing mistakes thus far, but me being in a writing mood is so rare of late that I figured you'd rather have a flawed story than no story at all.

And thus, one other note. A Mars mission is likely to be a global effort. When I started writing this story, I just plain didn't do the research because that aspect was very minor compared to the rest of the story. So please don't get the idea that I'm some stubbornly prideful American; I would absolutely love a Mars mission manned by astro/cosmo/whatever-nauts, organized and put together by space agencies from around the world. Things like that (like the ISS) make me proud to be living in the times that I am.

Without further ado, back to the story.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Black and Blue**

* * *

_They have an entire genre dedicated to scaring and terrifying the audience. And, contrary to common sense, that genre is quite popular. If you can still manage to comprehend that, then what about this:_

_That genre is also quite present in _videogames._ Yes, they make games based on a genre of horror and fright. _

_If that somehow catches on to _our_ culture, I'm going to have to try it out to see how such a thing could come to be. I pray that I don't have to..._

* * *

"As I'm sure you can tell, this is the airlock."

Biting back sarcastic quips involving a certain captain, the human trio simply nodded and followed Wavela (trying to not let the unabashed stares of her crew bother them).

The first thing Kate noticed about the ship's interior was that it was far more spacious than anything humanity had put in space. But, she wondered, was it a result of better and cheaper methods for getting things into space, or the ease of building their ships in space?

She heard Wavela say something to the rest of the crew in a language she didn't recognize; all but one of them went back into the depths of the ship. Now, at least, they wouldn't be crowded.

"I promised them I would let them be here for the greeting," Wavela explained. "But they would make a tour impossible if they continued to stay."

In a moment of realization, John understood that a cynic would interpret that as directing the crew to hide something. Such irrational suspicion annoyed him, though. If they wanted to hide something (or some other sinister action), they would have done it before the humans came aboard.

Beyond the airlock was a T-shaped junction, with the turn off to their right. The hallways were relatively small, but more than enough room for two people to pass each other without touching. The walls were a grayish-blue, with white lights in the upper corners. It would have been unnervingly neat and clean if it weren't for the screens, clearly removable panels, and thin containers lining the walls at head-level. That alone was highly comforting; it was truly a spacecraft that used every bit of space to its fullest.

"What are the screens for?" he heard Keigo asking.

"They have many purposes," the asari answered. "They can display engineering information about the systems and parts behind the wall, display notifications, provide video-communication between one screen and another, and other functions."

John personally assumed that the screens had some kind of touch interface like many human electronics, because he saw no other kinds of buttons or inputs. He made sure to film it all as they walked.

Wavela turned right at the junction, revealing a door. John didn't bother hiding his smile when it opened automatically as soon as she neared it.

Apparently Keigo and Kate had as well, because Wavela turned and asked why they were each smiling.

Keigo laughed a bit before answering. "A long time ago, a science fiction series portrayed a futuristic spaceship in which doors always opened like that. Of course, back then no such technology existed; they had special effects people physically pulling the doors apart off-camera. After the series became iconic, the actual technology was invented soon after, because people thought it was really cool."

Even John was surprised by Wavela's reaction (the salarian just looked at her with an odd expression, not understanding). Her mouth was agape at first, then it looked as if she was trying to figure out what to say. "That is...remarkable," she finally settled on. "That kind of technological development is not something I have heard of."

John personally wondered how _that_ was possible, but decided on leaving the matter be. After all, why _should_ he expect similarities on that level, when they already knew so little about each other in the first place? "Perhaps we should continue?" he gently prodded. They would leave that kind of stuff for later.

"Yes," Wavela answered, looking slightly abashed. She turned around to continue. While the hallway continued on at first appearance, there was another door on the right that they headed through first.

It was most likely the bridge of the ship, John determined. Orange-tinted screens lined the room, consoles and stations jutting out from the walls quite noticeably. The various aliens turned to look at the quartet, many of them _smiling_.

"This is...I don't know what you would call it, actually."

John was momentarily taken aback by that until he mentally berated himself. He had somehow become so used to Wavela understanding everything about English that it was jarring for her to make a mistake.

"The bridge, probably," Keigo answered.

They walked inside, looking around with obvious interest. One thing in particular caught their eyes, however. "Are those screens holographic?" Kate asked. At Wavela's confused expression, she added, "As in, the screens are just projections; they have no physical mass."

That was understood. "Yes, they are projections. So are the keyboards."

Wavela guided them over to one such interface to demonstrate. "The physical feedback is provided by extremely fast waves of air pressure," she explained. "Those waves are cut off at a precise distance by another device."

John recognized the technology as a much more refined and compact version of touchable holograms back on Earth. When he explained this to her, she was again surprised—though not nearly as much as before. "That is fascinating," she simply said.

The tour continued, with the next notable location being Engineering. Through a thankfully solid window, John could see a glowing, partly spinning device of some kind. "What is that?" he asked. The blue glow was almost like some weird cross between electricity and the malleable blobs of a lava lamp.

"I have no idea what you would call that," Wavela said. "But it generates a field that manipulates the mass of this ship. It is how we are able to travel faster than light, as well as generate a field that absorbs the kinetic energy of objects."

"It's glowing." John couldn't help but say it.

"_I'm_ not surprised," Keigo countered, smiling. "It's physics-defying, awesome, and _spinning_. Of course it glows."

"But think of the applications of something like that!" Kate interjected, feeling like the only voice of reason. "You could make a ship float in mid-air like a balloon!"

"They already _did_ do that, Kate," Keigo reminded her. "And yes, infinite applications and all that. I'd rather learn how it works, first. _Then_ think about the possibilities."

"But why is it _glowing_?" John reiterated. Glowing typically meant an abundance of excess energy...or excess _ionizing radiation_, which was far worse. In either case, John couldn't fathom a reason why whatever caused the glowing wasn't shielded or covered up to prevent damaging the equipment or _people_ near it.

"I don't know," Wavela said, clearly amused and confused at their reactions. "As for how it works, I don't know that much about the details. What I can tell you is that a specific element is charged...how do you say it? Positive and negative? Depending how it is charged, it can increase or decrease the mass of objects. For this ship, when its mass is decreased past a certain point, the ship can accelerate to faster than light speeds."

"Okay, I'm definitely starting to see the applications," Keigo admitted, his tone humorous as usual.

John resisted the urge to ask if it was safe, given that the thing was _glowing_. They wouldn't be using it so casually if it weren't.

But still. _Glowing_.

* * *

Operator Nick "Slippy" Rogers checked his weapon for the eleventh time this trip. He was understandably nervous—he was about as "out of water" as a fish like him could get. The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, more commonly referred to as DEVGRU (or, very informally, Seal Team 6), was largely made up of Navy SEALs. Sea, Air, or Land.

Not space.

Or, for that matter, gigantic space stations in the middle of space, halfway across the galaxy from Earth.

Known as "The Citadel", it was more like a giant metropolis than a space station, which was probably the main reason why they were even needed in the first place. If there was a leak in C-Sec, then a bunch of human special forces would be the best bet for complete loyalty. And since their presence was already a closely-guarded secret, they were the only option for such short notice. Only the two people at the front of their vehicle weren't human—a turian named Koliris and an asari named L'erak.

Satisfied that his weapon was ready to go, he glanced out the window to his right, seeing the vehicles unknowingly under their protection. Two government transports, looking more like flying cars than dropships, sped along a government-reserved traffic lane.

It took him a moment to recognize the yellow streaks as missiles, but he called them out as soon as he did.

Invisible barriers stopped the first several missiles, but there were far too many. As the two vehicles fell from the sky, he called out a phrase no one wanted to hear.

"_Code Black! Code Black!"_

* * *

**A/N:** About that last part; more will become clear with time.

I also apologize if my characterization of future astronauts is unrealistic. Just call it "we can't take the future for granted and assume we know what will happen." Also, the touchable holographics-I'm not making that up. At all. It's already been done, but it's still far from practical at the moment. In 2034, I'd be willing to bet that it's at least used for certain applications where the benefits outweigh the cost and downsides of the then-limited technology. If you're curious, look up "touchable hologram japan" on YouTube. It's the first result.

I know the ME-verse uses implants for physical feedback, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense by comparison. Not that I blame the ME creators; back when they wrote it, the idea of a touchable hologram was still magical science fiction.

**Please review! It motivates me, puts me in a writing mood, makes me smile, and makes puppies smile.** Yes, dogs can smile. Mine do :)


	6. This Too Shall Come to Pass

A/N: Hopefully this chapter won't feel painfully short like the last couple times. This one was a lot easier to write.

Just as a preface: I'm trying to get across that it's humanity as a whole that's interacting with the rest of the galaxy. America won't and shouldn't get majority credit for what happens in this story.

Also, don't expect humanity to save the day here, at least not in the cliche sense. Regardless of who lives or dies here, that attack will have major repercussions for both humanity and the rest of the galaxy.

* * *

**Chapter 6: This Too Shall Come to Pass**

* * *

Their aircar dove out of traffic straight away. Nick held on as best he could, his body adjusting to the lurching easily, like it was just another aircraft.

He trusted the aliens piloting it to put them in the right spot. So long as they got out safely, they stood a decent chance.

To his relief, the asari—who spoke some English, thankfully—told them good news as soon as they landed. "They should still be alive! Their crash was not too bad!"

The doors popped open, and Nick rushed out, weapon at the ready. He knew the basics of alien weapons and armor, but they were still at a technological disadvantage.

Thus, they had to adjust their combat tactics accordingly; targets would not get dropped by a few well-placed shots, so speed wasn't as much a factor. Positioning would be key.

Since L'erak was the one who knew where they were headed, she took point. Equipped with modern armor and weapons, she could take a few hits without injury.

L'erak was slightly unnerved at how well the humans moved without communication. They reminded her of asari commandos, but considering their situation, it was even more impressive. "Through here," she said, poking her head around the corner. There were many civilians running about, screaming. "Don't shoot the civilians," she said, gesturing for the rest to follow her as she turned the corner. Koliris followed right behind her.

As soon as they did, several of the civilians raised concealed weapons and fired.

L'erak took too many hits for her light armor to deal with, and dropped as several rounds punched into her. Koliris managed to raise his weapon, but couldn't acquire a target amidst the chaos before taking a wound in the leg. Unable to move to cover, he was gunned down mercilessly as well.

Several civilians lay dead on the floor, hit by the uncaring fire of the gunmen.

Nick had known not to follow as soon as he heard gunfire. Even if he could get a shot off, he would be right where the enemy had already been firing.

He worked the situation through: L'erak had only seen civilians, which meant that the gunmen were likely dressed as them for disguise. In other words, no helmets or visors, and no armor.

He threw a flashbang around the corner, waiting two seconds for it to detonate, and then turned the corner with fluid, masterful ease.

Now that they were armed, the gunmen were somewhat easily recognizable. Nick brought his weapon to bear.

It was a lightweight carbine, made with polymers where possible. Firing caseless 5.56 caliber ammunition, it might have been mistaken as a modern assault rifle with advanced optics and a diagonal foregrip, were it not for another distinguishing feature.

Built into the weapon was a semi-automatic underbarrel grenade launcher married to a laser range finder. Nick would have been able to find the range of the cover an enemy was hiding behind, adjust the grenade to airburst one foot behind that, aim right next to the cover and fire, within a second. If the alien assailants proved too durable for their 5.56 rounds, the grenade launchers would be their weapon of choice.

Not that he'd be able to use it here, with the civilians still in the area. He fired his weapon on semi-automatic, his mastery becoming evident as he dropped two targets in one second. The gunmen weren't wearing armor, making it a rather easy engagement.

Two more operators followed around the corner, taking aim and firing.

Within five seconds, all gunmen were incapacitated or dead.

He kept his eye on the crowd anyway, in case of additional threats. One of his fellow operators checked their downed allies.

L'erak was undoubtedly dead, with her eyes glassed over and unmoving. Koliris was luckier; his heavier armor had absorbed all but a few of the rounds. However, with a leg injury, he was no longer mobile. The turian pointed towards a door across the plaza. "_Kas,_" he said. "_Kas!"_

Nick couldn't understand what was said, but he could guess. Hopefully the turian's wound wasn't serious, because they had to _move_. Still, the idea of leaving the turian to his wounds felt ten different kinds of _wrong_ to him. "Slippy, let's go!" the squad leader, Pablo Alberto, yelled.

They raced to the indicated door, stacking up on the walls next to it. Nick only wasted a moment wishing the SAS were here, too—they were known for being even better in foreign urban operations than anyone else. The only reason the DEVGRU squad stood here alone in the first place was that it was difficult enough to smuggle _one_ squad across the galaxy. And even then, DEVGRU barely had time to get a squad in place.

They were operating blind, in completely alien territory, without any intel about either of the crash site locations, against a technologically and numerically superior enemy that had extensive knowledge of the area.

For all but the best, it would be a suicide mission.

For DEVGRU, it was one of their most important missions ever. Failure was not an option.

Any significant success in a situation like this was impossible.

They were _trained_ for impossible.

* * *

_Most of us are back in the bridge so that we don't crowd the humans. Still, it's been pretty amazing so far! I completely understand what Captain Wavela was saying—the humans are remarkably similar to the asari in terms of physical appearance, with the obvious exception of skin color. Some of their facial expressions are similar, too, like smiling. _

_All we've seen of the human spacecraft is the exterior. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that it's actually two craft in one; one remains in space while the other seems to be dedicated to landing on the surface and taking off._

_Captain Wavela and the humans are speaking the human language, so none of us understand what they're saying, but it's been pretty casual so far. _

_Okay, Wavela and the humans just walked into the bridge to look around. They're definitely interested and smiling. But...huh, they don't seem surprised by any of it. Weird._

_They left, probably to tour the rest of the ship. They're supposed to talk about all of the important stuff when the tour ends in the mess hall, so none of us will be eating for a little while. _

_Oh yeah, before I forget: the planet we're all currently on is the closest planet to their homeworld; the humans exploring it are the first humans to ever set foot here. It's called Mars, and it's almost entirely red. It actually has an atmosphere, though._

_/sending...  
_

_/message sent  
_

* * *

"Almost got it...there we go," John said as he fixed the camera into position. For the sake of trust and quelling any panic or conspiracy, the entire conversation would be recorded.

Not that it particularly bothered any of them. Their jobs meant that stuff like this was a possibility (or eventuality, for the humans) that they were prepared for.

"We're ready to go, then?" Kate asked.

"Yep."

"Alright," she said, turning her head back to Wavela, who sat next to Morlon, across from them.

She tried to break the inevitable tension with some humor. "I hope Morlon isn't hopelessly confused."

Wavela smiled in return when the salarian perked up at the mention of his name. "I think he's managed to understand some things. He's enjoying himself."

Morlon looked back and forth between the others in the room, confused. Entertaining one of her more childish notions, she decided not to clue him in. "I'm sure you have lots of questions," she said.

Keigo snorted. "Well, we would, if we knew what to ask."

That remark resonated with Wavela, giving clear words to what she was feeling. She was impressed by the wisdom of it, further detailing it herself: without enough context, she didn't know what answers she was looking for, and thus didn't know what to ask.

Flipping the problem around, she realized the easiest way around the problem was to explain her side to them. "I think I should start by explaining the basics of the galactic community, then." The real difficulty behind that would be if certain aspects of it were unfamiliar to them. "The heart of it is a massive space station that is something of a junction, or a hub. It's like a city in terms of population, culture, economics, and more. Aside from housing the galactic government, it is heavily defended and able to seal itself off in the event of an attack."

"So, it's like a castle, or fort, on top of a city?" John asked wrapping his head around the idea. The most confusing part was how it was at all practical, rather than possible.

"Not exactly," Wavela corrected, "it's both a fortress and a city combined, and it is also the diplomatic core of the galaxy."

"A citadel," Kate blurted. Her fellow astronauts turned toward her with confused looks. "What? A fortress city. That's what citadel means."

"Works for me," Keigo said.

"Okay, so this Citadel contains the galactic government?" John continued. "What kind of government?"

"Well, at the very top of it is the Council. It's made up of one representative of each of the Council races, the asari, salarians, and turians. The Council itself does not have a lot of official authority over the specific governments of its member species, but its decisions carry a lot of weight.

"There are, of course, many organizations and support staff under the Council; a galactic community is quite the thing to manage."

_Now_ John knew where to start with questions. "You told us there were about 10 sentient species that you know about, but only three of them are on this Council. Why is that?" He was unnerved by the idea.

Wavela understood John's implied questions immediately. "It's not a system designed to advantage some species over others," she hastily reassured them. "They all have representation, too. A seat on the Council is about more than having a say in galactic politics. It means that a species is willing to undertake the responsibility of protecting the galactic community and putting the greater need at a higher priority than solely its own. Even if that were not the case, no government is forced to comply with the Council by force unless it presents a clear and direct threat to the galactic community.

War is costly in many ways. Nearly every species tries to avoid it. We are not always successful, but no system is perfect. We just try to do the best we can."

John was visibly relieved by that answer; the idea was somewhat odd, but it did make sense. "So, with regards to Earth, or other new species, what happens?"

That was the key question, she knew. Thankfully, the answer was relatively easy. "There is no official policy across the board; the Council decides differently for each case. For example, the Council once only consisted of the asari and salarians; they made first contact with the turians when the new species was already an interstellar civilization.

In this case, I know a few things for certain. The Council will place a few military vessels to protect this system from whoever would try to attack it. You don't need to worry about any interference from them, as they would be forbidden by law from attacking anything on the planet. Then a diplomatic presence would be set up, though I don't know the details of how that would work. Of course, your species would also be part of the decision-making process for that.

"As for other areas, like art, culture, technology—I don't know. That's something that will be decided later, with you and with experts on the subject. Ultimately, if your species as a whole wants to be isolated until you decide otherwise, that is your choice. The entire idea of this—all of this—is to integrate new species into the galactic community safely and willingly. If that takes a thousand years, then we will wait that long.

"But we don't have to make any of those decisions right now. We shouldn't, actually. We must understand each other before making any significant decisions. So right now is just about getting to know each other."

Silence reigned for a moment, but Keigo broke it with enthusiasm. "In that case, what's your favorite color?" Kate snorted while John face-palmed. "What? It's a legitimate question," he said in his defense.

Momentarily surprised by the question and their reactions, Wavela took a moment to ponder her answer. If she wanted to be completely honest... "Blue," she said, hoping they didn't mistake her answer for pride or narcissism. In truth, she liked it because it was the color of water.

"See!" Keigo said gleefully, turning to each of his friends. "I called it."

John just continued shaking his head, remembering his bet with Keigo. "Fine, you get two of my strawberry bars. Happy?"

"Yes, very much so, thanks," Keigo answered in triumph. The half-sarcastic smug grin on his face befuddled the meaning of the exchange even further.

Seeing Wavela's utterly confused expression, Kate decided to explain. "They made a bet about what your favorite color was. Or, to be more accurate, John was humoring Keigo to get him to stop talking at the time."

"You made a bet about my favorite color? Why?" How would something like that even cross their minds, given the situation?

"Well," Keigo started to explain, given that he was behind it all, "The first thing we noticed about you was that you were all blue—which is really unusual on Earth—and the question just kind of popped into my head."

Filing away that interesting factoid for later, Wavela decided to start her line of questioning. "I see..." Using that phrase was something she had wanted to try. And since first contact protocol suggested explaining one's through process to garner trust and understanding, she elaborated. "That expression is quite interesting...'I see,' as the equivalent to 'I understand.' Is the sense of sight extremely important to you?" She wondered how acute their vision actually was, among other things.

"It's definitely important," Kate answered. "But there isn't a cultural importance or anything like that. And we've made some very large strides in helping those who are blind to overcome their limitations."

That last part was definitely noteworthy to Wavela, even if its implications were far from definite. She could guess that they didn't attach strong stigma to those with physical disabilities, but going further than that would just be speculation.

Her next question went in a slightly different direction. "And what is the typical lifespan of your species?"

John ran a hand through his relatively short hair—Wavela couldn't help but be intrigued at the flexibility and sheer number of the strands. There had to be thousands on his head alone!

"It varies," he said. "Depends on a person's diet, habits, genetic conditions, and more, so I can't give you any exact number. But in general, about 80 to 100 years for those with healthy lifestyles."

So they weren't either a long-lived or short-lived species, Wavela noted. The _Sialara_ had measured the orbital period of Earth, and knew the definition of a human year from the meld.

"But that will change," John continued, to Wavela's surprise. "A few hundred years ago, that number range was closer to 60 to 70 years. Hundreds before that, 40 to 60. And with new developments in medicine, technology, and genetics, it could be something much higher than what it is now."

"That's quite a great degree of variation," she commented. And it was—medical advancements usually allowed more people to reach the end of their natural lifespans, not expand natural lifespans altogether.

Genetics was the key to that particular aspect of aging, but no species had actually tried to change their natural lifespans, for various reasons. Perhaps humanity would decide differently? Or had they already?

"What about yours?" Keigo asked, breaking her subtle, momentary pondering. "Wait, how do you know how long our years are compared to yours?"

She explained how the _Sialara_ had measured it, compared it to the definition of the word, and then compared it to the galactic standard. "The asari are noted for their long lifespans, which is about 1000 of your years."_ That_ got significant reactions out of them—the strands of fiber above their eyes rose up noticeably. Was that their instinctual reaction for surprise? "But the salarian lifespan is about 40 years. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The long-term view of the asari is complimented by the short-term view of the salarians, for example, and both are needed."

"Wow," Kate simply said. It was pretty interesting and comforting, at the same time. "Wait, so how old are you?" she asked, before adding, "If you want to answer, I mean."

Wavela decided to think about that oddity later, as she didn't have the time now. "I am about 500 years old," she said, wondering how they would react.

Their surprise was much milder this time. "I suppose that makes sense," John said. "You are in charge of this ship, after all."

Trying to give them the right impression of the age issue, she clarified John's statement. "That isn't just because of my age. First contact scenarios are incredibly delicate, so the ones in charge of those missions must have certain skills and knowledge. The asari's ability to meld with the minds of other species makes the skill of learning a language through a single meld possible through intense training. So every exploration ship must have an asari with that skill aboard. In my case, it was simply convenient that I had both."

To her relief and pleasure, Keigo was smiling. "Yeah, it certainly was pretty convenient for all of us," he said.

Thinking back to the melding reminded her of something. "By the way, right after the melding, you indicated familiarity with the concept. I am curious, how is familiar?"

"The idea of linked minds is somewhat common in fiction," Keigo answered. "Heck, remember that series I told you about, with the automatic doors?"

"Yes..."

"Well, that series also had the mind melding concept. And it definitely wasn't the first or last."

"But Earth doesn't have any species capable of it?" she asked, wondering how the concept could be so prevalent for them.

"Nope."

Wavela, intrigued, decided to pursue a line of questioning on a momentary hunch. "So...what other concepts are prevalent in fiction? About aliens, or things related to them?"

Keigo suddenly let out a high-pitched, toned sound. It definitely surprised her in more ways in one. "I don't know where to start," he said. "We've got everything from alien invasions of Earth—that's been done a lot, but most of the time it's not so much about the aliens as the action. Then you've got the Bug War, the Robot War, the Federation, and so much more..."

She had to rack her mind for the meanings of 'bug' and 'robot' (she didn't even try with 'federation'), but when she recalled them, her curiosity spiked. Could they really have imagined...? "The bug war and robot war...what exactly are those?"

"Well," he responded, intrigued but confused. "The Bug War is humanity being at war with an insectoid species. _Starship Troopers_ is probably the most iconic example, but Ender's Game had a much better story for it. It's almost always an interstellar war, with the queens mainly located on the alien homeworld."

Wavela's heart raced at that. "And the other?"

"That's a little more complicated," Kiego began. "That one isn't always in space, but the premise is usually the same. Humanity creates sentient machines for manual labor or expendable troops, sentient machines rebel, and then the war starts. _The Matrix_ and _Battlestar Galactica_ are probably the most iconic examples of those."

She couldn't decide whether this was extremely unnerving or just unexpected.

Interpreting her silence for an interest in further explanation, Keigo continued. "_Battlestar Galactica_ is probably the more traditional example of those two, though. Humanity created the cylons for both soldiers and manual labor, and then the cylons rebelled, nearly wiped out humanity, forcing what was left of it to flee in a big fleet of random ships."

Extremely unnerving, she firmly decided. She couldn't hide it at all; even the humans picked up on it. "Are you okay?" Kate asked.

"Yes," she replied, trying to sound like it. "It's just...your imagination is quite impressive. Those premises are very similar to those of recent movies. Our recent movies," she clarified, trying to cover up her jitters with a white lie. She hated doing it, but telling them about the Rachni War and Geth Rebellion would create panic and doubt in a delicate situation. They would learn the truth in time, along with the reasoning behind her lie, but it was better for both parties this way.

Either they bought it, or they decided to let the matter drop, because they quickly moved on. She knew she would have to explain the truth soon—and not just for trust reasons. Wavela just hoped that her mistake hadn't ruined first impressions.

* * *

A/N: I realize that Keigo is talking about stuff that happened 30 years ago. I tried to limit his examples to ones that are truly iconic. Also, as for Keigo naming tropes word-for-word: TV Tropes obviously exists, and for someone who loves films as a hobby and grew up in a young enough generation to be around for the rise of the internet, Keigo would know all about it.

Also, as for why C-Sec can't muster enough backup on their own for escort: there's a high-level leak in C-Sec. Here's a hint: what kind of entity would be capable of that and much more? Here's another: if said entity is truly neutral, then why would it act like that?

If anything comes across as unrealistic, I apologize.

**Please review! Your responses and feedback _make_ these chapters, in the indirect sense. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys :)**


	7. Prelude to War

A/N: I know, it's short. But I won't have time to write for a little while and this felt like a good place to stop.

I know a few of you (rightly) complained that I was making the classic mistake of sci-fi: Aliens are all similar and have a single language/culture, while humanity is wildly different and diverse. While I do believe (and this is supported by canon, for better or for worse) that humanity is notably more diverse in terms of culture, art, etc., part of this is because the cultures of the galactic community have sort of blended together, like we see (to a limited extent) on Earth in recent times. Another part is that, with a huge galactic community, the average person focuses on the popular whole far more than the obscure, minor cultures and languages.

Lastly, I'm aware that the flow of the story is awkward. I'm starting to take steps to improve that, but I have already made those mistakes-so I apologize.

Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Prelude to War**

John hit the comparatively large red button on the camera and the indicative light adorned on its front turned yellow.

He was aware of the President's recent directive: don't take the camera off 'transmit' if it wasn't necessary. Suspicion would naturally follow, and for good reason.

But he wasn't a fool. He may not be anywhere near 500 years old, but he could still formulate a plan on the fly. "Those...events...really did happen, didn't they?" he asked, still facing away from Wavela. It was the only probable conclusion—Wavela's explanation should have resulted in an amused reaction, not a panicked one.

Wavela, as much as she was impressed by their intuition, couldn't look them in the eye. "Yes," she said, more quietly than necessary. "A long time ago. The Rachni War happened hundreds of years before I was born, and the Geth Rebellion happened...over a hundred years ago. I was...shocked that you had produced stories so similar to what actually happened before first contact with any other sapient species.

"We've made similar stories, of course," she said, finally able to lift her gaze from the table. "But none were so accurate before first contact."

John sat back down slowly, considering the ramifications of what he'd just been told. Still, he reminded himself, one thing at a time. "You could have told us that the first time we asked," he said gently.

"I'm sorry," the asari apologized. "I should have told you the truth. Protocol dictates it. I just...panicked, at the thought of causing a panic for your species by telling you the truth immediately."

John couldn't help but laugh, shifting everyone's attention to him. "I have no idea if this is the case with other species," he said, "but we tend to be more afraid of the unknown than terrible things that we know all about."

Wavela didn't even bother trying to decide if other known species acted that way. Giving in to the stress of the situation, she finally spoke her mind. "This is very difficult," she said, once more staring at the table absently, "even for someone of my age, with all of the training and experience that contains, I'm still overwhelmed by all of this."

As Keigo chuckled, Kate decided to act on an impulsive urge as she reached across the table and placed her hand over Wavela's. "You're not the only one," she reassured, "and trying to pretend that this isn't stressful will make you crazy."

Wavela, heartened by the gesture on both a personal and diplomatic perspective, smiled at the sight. "Five hundred years old or fifty, we all have our wisdom and mistakes."

"Hey, I'm not that old yet," Wavela heard Kate say. Surprised at the rebuke, she looked back up at the human's face to see a smile. "I'd like to think that 36 is still pretty young."

John hit a series of buttons on the camera, turning it back to transmit mode—starting with the recent footage that had only been locally recorded. No one commented about his grin at an impromptu plan being perfectly executed.

* * *

_I just can't believe that the first sapient alien we encounter is an attractive, blue-skinned woman with alien hair. Somewhere, an exobiologist is crying. _

-_Posted April 3, at 10:47 AM PST_

_Because we knew so much about exobiology before today, of course. _

_Should the experts on faster-than-light travel be crying, too? _

_Ugh. We are so fucking full of ourselves._

_-Posted April 3, at 10:48 AM PST_

* * *

_Private Council Lounge, 15 Citadel Standard hours after the assassination in Zakera Ward_

Councilor Vellis stared at the datapad in front of her, chilled to the bone. On the other side of the table, Councilors Pasir and Rollick did the same.

The evidence was entirely circumstantial, but it was so clear regardless. Only one group would have both the motivation and resources to do something like this. "I can't believe the Batarian Hegemony would go this far," she said.

"Unless there is another level to this strategy," Rollick said, his large black eyes focused precisely on her. "Someone with the resources wants the Council races at war with the Batarian Hegemony."

"The Shadow Broker wouldn't profit from this," Pasir offered. "The conflict would be relatively short and very decisive. He'd profit much more from a cold war, where he could play both sides. So would the megacorporations."

"The Shadow Broker is the only one capable of getting agents this high up into C-Sec," Vellis furthered. "For him to sacrifice that agent's position and the potential profit from unfriendly relations between the Hegemony and Council...he must have been offered a tremendous sum."

"A sum only the Hegemony could provide without alerting anyone," Rollick concluded. "But they must have known we would have figured all of this out. The act itself and the evidence were overt. Why would they have followed through, then?"

The three sat in silence for a minute, searching for answers. Vellis was at a loss when she reached a dead end: could the Hegemony really have decided that this attack was worth the punishment?

"They're expecting another _slap on the wrist_," Pasir spat with undisguised loathing.

Vellis understood; turian culture _loathed_ letting an enemy get away with attacking their own if the enemy was taking advantage of mercy. "We shouldn't jump into a war without definitive evidence—"

"The evidence _is_ definitive," Pasir countered, not bothering to conceal his anger. "They did it because they thought they could get away it!"

"And they _won't_," Vellis argued, trying to keep the situation from spiraling out of control. "Sanctions from the entire Citadel alliance will send a clear message—"

"That's _exactly_ the kind of attitude that they're taking advantage of!" Pasir yelled. Vellis suddenly realized that this issue had bothered Pasir more seriously than he had revealed in the past. "They're expecting _sanctions_ in response for undermining the Council, humanity's culture and future, and the public's attitude towards first contact! We _cannot_ let this stand! The Hegemony has been corrupting this galaxy and its own society for decades, and now it has finally _gone too far!_"

Vellis, shocked by such an unprecedented emotional display, only just realized she was actively leaning away from her turian colleague.

In the moments that followed, she gradually reduced her shock while Pasir gradually reduced his anger, but neither truly changed their attitudes. His eyes bore straight into hers, demanding.

"I must consult with the dalatrasses," Rollick spoke quietly, breaking some of the tension. As the salarian got up and left, Vellis and Pasir reconciled easily. Even if they were of differing opinions, mutual respect and compassion were absolutely fundamental to the members of the Council, no matter what time period.

But Vellis knew, deep down, that Pasir had a point. It terrified her that he did, because the even more frightening question presented itself: would interstellar war be better or worse than abundant tolerance?

_War_.

Had it really come to this?

* * *

A/N: Who knows?

**Please review! Sharing this experience with you guys is what drives me to write this story!**


	8. Brink

A/N: First off, thanks to everyone that reviewed! You guys have blown me away thus far, and the best way I can think of to repay you is to keep writing.

In response to a few reviewers (anonymous or otherwise), I want to clarify a few things:

1) Cerberus isn't behind anything because Cerberus _doesn't exist yet_. It's 2034, and the Illusive Man hasn't even been born yet. Besides, I doubt a human supremacist group would have much in the way of resources a couple months after first contact.

2) Did DEVGRU fail? Perhaps, but that's part of the ride; we don't know yet.

3) The attack at the Citadel takes place roughly two months after first contact.

4) Anyone can die. I say that not because I've credibly established it, but because I honestly haven't decided whether or not to kill certain characters off-and I have good reasons for going either way.

5) No, humanity isn't going to fight alongside the Council races in any potential war against the Hegemony because there is absolutely no reason to (and there are many moral reasons to prohibit it).

6) No, I have not planned every detail of this story out. Or the big things. That potential war with the Hegemony? Haven't actually decided whether or not it's going to happen yet. Just saying.

Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Brink**

* * *

"War is a continuation of politics by other means."

-Carl von Clausewitz, in _On War_

* * *

_Council Press Briefing, Two Citadel standard (CS) hours after Zakera Ward Incident_

There were times when he felt like a punching bag, standing in front of press representatives to receive all of their pressing questions.

He understood why these reporters acted the way they did, and in some ways was encouraged by it. But that didn't make his job any easier. At 31 years old, Tosulus Nilassic was one of the best press secretaries in the galaxy, salarian or otherwise. For a job like this, though, it just made him capable of doing it—that was the challenge people in his position faced.

"Please!" he shouted, trying to bring the noise level down to a level where he could talk. "I have a statement!" _That_ worked, thankfully. "Two CS hours ago, two government vehicles were attacked by unidentified assailants in the Zakera Ward. The assailants were organized and well-equipped, but we have not yet confirmed their organizational affiliation." Now came the hard part; he braced himself. "While we're still in the process of confirming all of the details, I can definitively say that at least four C-Sec agents, three diplomats, and twelve civilians were killed." As expected, the reporters started voicing their questions out loud simultaneously—and he hadn't even finished his statement, though they wouldn't have known that. He remained silent, waiting for them to understand that he wasn't finished.

When they finally quieted, he continued. "I can also confirm that most of the assailants have been killed, and a minority of them fled the scene. We are still heavily investigating the incident, and rest assured that those responsible will be brought to justice. Finally, I would like to emphasize that we believe this to be an isolated incident, and that further attacks are unlikely."

_Now_ he faced the onslaught. He knew each of the reporters by name, and his talent for differentiating their voices and questions allowed him to handle the situation professionally. "Y'tollir!" he called out, indicating his first choice.

The asari that stood was professionally dressed, but in a strictly practical fashion—something he respected. "We've heard from civilians at the scene that they saw several humans at the attack. Were any of the diplomats in those government vehicles human?"

Tosulus didn't bother being surprised by how informed Y'tollir already was. "Yes," he answered simply.

His next choice asked the obvious question: "Can you tell us the identities of the killed diplomats?"

He couldn't dodge the question without making the situation look even worse than it was. Tosulus knew where this conference would lead, and had already planned his responses accordingly. He was even prepared for a variety of surprises, and his emotional control was excellent.

But even then, being the bearer of bad news was never a pleasant job.

* * *

_Zakera Ward, Incident ongoing_

Nick didn't need to be on point to see the three aliens—this time clad in armor and carrying much bigger guns—turn to face his team. In his thoroughly trained subconscious, he realized that these hostiles weren't well coordinated or situationally aware.

The six operators were much faster on the draw. Six 30mm grenades flew towards the hostile trio, detonating in midair less than two feet away from their targets.

At a range of 15 meters, it wasn't the safest kind of attack to use, but these grenades were designed to blow shrapnel everywhere _except_ behind the detonation.

All of the hostiles were down, either dead or quite incapacitated. As Nick advanced past the bodies, he saw that finishing them off was completely unnecessary.

It was comforting to know that they could hold their own in a straight-up engagement, but the situation was still dire.

"We need to split up," Nick suggested. With two objectives to locate and protect, it was the logical course of action.

"Agreed," one of the other operators answered. "Three by three," he said, pointing the direction his team would go. "On me."

Nick led the other team, continuing straight. As he neared another door at the far end of the hallway, he prepared to signal his team to stack up against the wall next to it.

He didn't get any further than "prepared", because the door opened by itself. Adrenaline still pumping through his blood, he raised his carbine and came _very_ close to pulling the trigger but was stopped by the signs of civilians.

Only his endless live-fire Close Quarters Combat (CQC) exercise training prevented a disaster. Still, he almost laughed when the previously panicked civilians now stood there, dumbfounded by the sight of a species completely unknown to them. "On me!" he shouted, moving his team back into gear. They ran past the civilians into what looked like a small indoor market. Civilians were running in the same general direction, giving Nick the break he was hoping for.

The civilians were running _away_ from something, indicating exactly where Nick needed to go.

They moved quickly, but expertly. When two of the "civilians" drew concealed pistols, they were gunned down in quick, almost casual fashion.

A large, open door around the corner at the far end of the market hinted at their goal. As they approached, they saw the back end of the wrecked aircar...and a wounded asari sitting against it, pistol raised.

Nick quickly flashed a handsign, prompting an operator behind him to ready a flashbang. With practiced precision, the flashbang was thrown into the room in the direction of the implied assailants, and Nick's team took cover along the wall next to the door.

The noise was quite loud, even through the headsets they wore. With the _bang_ serving as their cue to move in, they quickly identified the four armored targets, about a dozen meters away.

Six grenades later, the operators reloaded their grenade launchers and checked the area for other survivors.

As Nick checked the asari's wounds, he heard his teammates call out. "Two dead inside the vehicle, but the rest is empty!"

He registered the words but kept his focus on the asari. Without hesitation, he ripped a biofoam spray out of his medical kit and applied it into her wound. It was risky to try on an alien (who knew how their biology worked?), but given how much blood she was losing, he hoped it did more good than harm.

But now what? They couldn't move her much without exacerbating the injury, nor could they leave her behind.

"Rocker, Lolipop," he called out, "take her to the back of one of the shops. I'll cover you."

James "Rocker" Peterson and Richard "Lolipop" Tilton did their best to move the asari without worsening the injury. Nick considered himself lucky that no one so much as fired a gun nearby.

Unless the hostiles had advanced sensing equipment, they wouldn't even find their wounded VIP. Still, there were many reasons not to leave her alone. "Lolipop, stay here and keep an eye on her. Rocker, with me."

Now they had to find the rest of whoever had been in that aircar, and hope that they weren't too late.

* * *

"Wars are fought to gain a certain objective. War itself is not the objective; victory is not the objective; you fight to remove the obstruction that comes in the way of your objective. If you let victory become the end in itself, then you've gone astray and forgotten what you were originally fighting about."

- Jawaharlal Nehru, in an interview with James Cameron, in Picture Post (28 October 1950)

* * *

_From an evolutionary standpoint, humanity's history is quite fascinating, perhaps on par with that of the krogan (though in significantly different ways). Their early history was indeed a struggle for survival in harsh climates and against fierce predators, which humanity would eventually overcome with their superior intelligence and [sic; translate: humanoid] body structure (and thus, tools and tactics). However, evading death by predators was only one of the several challenges for humanity. For it to thrive, the species had to do far more than survive—it had to adapt an compensate for its weaknesses. _

_Hunting was vital for humanity's survival and growth, and humanity employed a thus-far unique strategy for hunting for a sapient species this early in its lifespan. Simply put, they would stalk their prey until it collapsed or became vulnerable due to exhaustion. With an adequate water supply, humans are capable of athletic endurance second only to the krogan, at the expense of comparatively fast dehydration. When hunting prey that preferred to fight rather than run or collapse from exhaustion, more advanced tactics were used._

_However, the truly unique aspect of humanity's evolutionary history is its very old, very effective mutualistic bond with another species: wolves. In fittingly human fashion, the evolutionary paths of humans and wolves began as strong competitors. Both were relatively high-endurance animals (though humans definitely had the edge there), worked in coordinated packs with clearly defined social structures, and contained good senses. They used to fight over prey and with each other, until a remarkable trend began to develop. More docile and friendly wolves drifted near human encampments, feeding on left-over food scraps. Humans reciprocated their approach, providing food, warmth, and shelter in return for partnership._

_The symbiosis was extremely successful for both species. Wolves had excellent senses in the areas that humans were comparatively lacking (night-time sight and smell), and vice-versa. Wolves and humans shared warmth and shelter, with wolves providing early alerts against any potential threats. The wolves' acute sense of smell was as devastatingly effective at tracking prey (and predators) as humanity's high intelligence and detailed eyesight. _

_Over time, both species evolved in new ways due to this relationship. Wolves were selectively bred for features best supporting mutualistic relationships with humans, while humans developed an instinctual fondness for mutualism (notably, even with former enemies) and species that had mutualistic or commensal relationships with them. Though domestication is hardly a uniquely human phenomenon, humanity domesticated more species earlier on than all but the batarians (though for notably different purposes; humans developed more mutualistic relationships than easy and abundant prey relationships, as opposed to the opposite trend for batarians). _

_Today, while wolves definitely still exist in their original forms, most of the modern descendants of historical wolves have become an entire family of species collectively known as dogs. With hunting being done largely for sport in modern times, dogs typically fill a different—but no less significant—role. _

_Dogs are still known and appreciated for the security they provide, both as an early alert against potential threats and as a valuable ally in a fight. In addition, many breeds of dog are rather intelligent (though far from sapient). Dogs fulfill other (though rarely exclusive to the companionate role) roles as well, from search-and-rescue efforts, law enforcement, emotional and psychological therapy, explosive ordinance detection, illegal drug detection, and many more. _

_But dogs are best defined in modern times as companions. Many owners consider their dogs as members of their family, formally registering them with the family name. Most owners, according to recent studies, claim that they _love_ their dogs and seriously grieve their loss. That relationship goes both ways; dogs are famously known for their loyalty and open affection towards humans. With a highly consistent frequency, dogs (even ones completely unknown to the human) evoke feelings of affection. I think this very old, but still quite famous, phrase about dogs sums it up best: "Mankind's best friend."_

_And it's easy to see that relationship plainly through simple observation. After researching their history together, one could say that humans and dogs are the closest current equivalent of "sibling" species._

_Very recent (and ongoing) experiments with asari, salarian, and turian adopters of dogs have shown encouraging results. Though the studies are understandably severely limited in scale at this time, it wouldn't be surprising to see dogs find homes across the galaxy in the future. _

* * *

_Council Press Briefing, ten CS days after Zakera Ward incident_

"...that, combined with the previous actions of, widespread sapiet rights violations of, and covert support of terrorist and slaver organizations of the Batarian Hegemony, has forced immediate action."

Tosulus was glad for his nondescript black eyes now, glad that they weren't giving his empty stare away on live recording.

His pause was only momentary, but it allowed him to brace for the impact of what he was about to say. "Therefore, speaking in agreement with each of the interstellar governments of the Council races, we hereby issue an ultimatum to the Batarian Hegemony: complete surrender on the condition of complete amnesty, or face inevitable defeat and interstellar war."

* * *

"War may be unavoidable sometimes, but its progeny are terrible to contemplate. Not mere killing, for man must die, but the deliberate and persistent propagation of hatred and falsehood, which gradually become the normal habits of the people. It is dangerous and harmful to be guided in our life's course by hatreds and aversions, for they are wasteful of energy and limit and twist the mind and prevent it from perceiving truth."

-Jawaharlal Nehru, in _The Discovery of India_ (1946)

* * *

A/N: Have I mentioned that this is an experiment in anachronic order yet? And that experiments are are about discovery, not success or failure?

That said, I have made some objective failures that I intend to fix soon.

I also apologize for any inaccuracies about humanity's (or that of dogs/wolves) evolutionary histories. I'm by no means an expert and what research I've done hasn't been specifically for this story. However, I guess I kind of have the crutch that the alien writing about the issue might have just misinterpreted certain information. Oh, and no offense to cats (they can be quite awesome and cute too).

Now, some questions if you would like to answer them:

1) Was this chapter confusing to follow along with?

2) What did you like about this chapter?

3) What did you dislike?

4) What/who should I focus on in this story in the next few chapters?

5) Any other feedback?

**Please review! I spend quite a bit of time writing this story, and sharing this experience with you makes me overjoyed.** And as always, you guys are awesome :)


	9. If I Have Seen Farther

A/N:What's this? Another short chapter? Well, considering that I'm leaving on a family trip for a few days, I figured I'd leave you with this before I go.

Seriously, it was you guys that made me want to spend today writing more than anything else. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Chapters like this are the rare treat that are joys to write in and of themselves.

Also, to reiterate: humanity will not be participating in any potential war with the Hegemony in any physical way.

Lastly, I apologize if any of this comes across as "preaching" or something like that. Consider that, as explorers, they share a similar perspective and mentality.

* * *

**Chapter 9: If I Have Seen Farther...**

* * *

"You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable...is each other."

-Alien, in _Contact _(1997)

* * *

_ESV Sialara, Mars: First Contact, ongoing_

Wavela wasn't sure what John did with the camera, but she realized that she didn't care. This entire process was about learning and understanding. If John had made anything clear, it was that being open and truthful was more important than the truth being good or bad.

Seeing Kate's hand covering hers in a comforting gesture brought up memories—ideas and philosophies that helped shape who she was today. She smiled, grasping the revitalizing thought as it occurred to her. "Everyone on this ship shares a...longing...for something." She looked back up, into Kate's brown eyes, finding the inspiration for her words. "Even our galaxy, just one out of billions, is so vast and spacious that we feel...small. There are many billions of people in this galaxy—that we know of, at least—but it still feels empty."

Wavela couldn't have explained it in words, but somehow she understood that Kate, John, and Keigo were listening like never before. They weren't just taking in her words, they were taking in her emotions and her deepest understandings. "So we try to find the meaning, the purpose, the understanding of our existence. We stare at the abyss, terrified, and reach out to others for comfort and security. Because when we're not alone, it's easier to face it all. We find meaning and solace in each other, by sharing our ideas, or hopes, our fears, and our perspectives. We search system after system in this incredibly vast expanse, hoping to find that we aren't as alone as we thought."

It was at this point that Morlon, unable to understand any of the words being said, decided to just hope that the situation wasn't spiraling out of control in an attempt to avert a panic attack.

_Why the hell am I even here?_ he wondered to himself. _Or maybe I'm just being irrational,_ he considered. His presence was almost entirely symbolic, but he could just be making the situation worse with his probably increasingly visible panic and _why is the captain acting so emotional_ that didn't make any sense nor could it be a good sign should he get help or maybe—

"And we're not," Kate said after a few moments of silence, smiling through watering eyes. "We're not as alone as we thought we were." Her words were reassuring, but they also conveyed a sense of connection. "I think that, at least for those of us that really looked at the universe for what it was, we felt the same way. Like...being stranded on an island, wondering if and hoping that you weren't alone in this giant world."

Wavela now empathetically understood that for Kate, and all the rest of humanity, it had been so much worse. They were truly alone, suffering from isolation, urged forward by the stubborn hope that there were others out there. That one day, their efforts and determination would culminate in vindication...just like the explorers, the astronomers, and the so many others of old. "I guess that's our longing," she finally replied. "To find those stranded people and tell them that they aren't alone. That there's so much for them out there, and that we'll be waiting for when you're ready to experience it. That, if you want to, we'll even help you get there."

Kate didn't consciously realize her firmer grasp on Wavela's hand in the emotion of the moment. She _did_ notice the tear rolling down her cheek, but didn't care about nor want to hide it. She knew that they were speaking in generalities about their species and civilizations, but that didn't make this connection any less meaningful. Wavela, Kate realized, was a fellow explorer and free thinker like her... and like the millions of humans back on Earth. Despite all of the differences, they were so much alike; she comprehended that so much more than before.

"I feel so blessed," Kate said, "to have lived for this...to have met you, and shared this moment with you." She didn't mind speaking her deepest feelings so openly, in such a public way. This meeting, this moment...they belonged to everyone, past and present, that had worked to get here. Giving this much of herself was so small, compared to that.

"If I have seen farther," Keigo recited, "it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." He smiled, half-chuckling and half-snorting, before explaining further. "Sir Isaac Newton said that...and he died over three hundred years ago. He was right...except for one thing."

"Yeah?" John asked, feeling abnormally emotional himself.

"We don't just stand on the shoulders of giants," Keigo answered. "We stand on the shoulders of _everyone_ who came before."

* * *

_ESV Sialara, newly explored system, 3 CS days before First Contact_

Wavela stared at the navigation charts on her datapad and sighed. She sat almost alone in the mess hall, except for Morlon. In her more tired moments, she envied the salarian ability to operate optimally on so little sleep. "Our astrological data indicates that this system has a healthy star and more than six planets," Morlon suggested.

"True," she replied, "but it's not the closest system. And the number of planets isn't indicative of anything just by itself."

"Also true," Morlon conceded.

For a moment, Wavela thought they were back to square one. But then she looked up to see a smile on the salarian's face, and she knew that he was holding something back.

"But we just got a data packet from the Citadel Exploration Division," he said. "Take a look at this." Morlon flipped his datapad around to give Wavela a better view.

"Two good-sized planets in the habitable zone, with one well inside of it," she concluded. "Well, I guess that settles it, then."

"I'll go tell the bridge crew," Morlon said, getting up with a cheerful disposition. "You should get some rest," he told her, _still_ energetic.

"With pleasure," she said, slowly getting up herself.

* * *

_Due to several misconceptions about the extremely rapid advance from first controlled, powered flight in 1903 [sic; translate] to first step on their moon, Luna, in 1969 [sic; translate] (a period of roughly 60 CS years), I feel the need to clarify the circumstances behind._

_First, let me preface this explanation by saying that the progression and feats were still quite extraordinary and admirable._

_However, one should not get the impression that this rate of progression is typical for humanity. It was, instead, a perfect combination of many circumstances, which I will list and detail below:_

_1) Thriving peace periods interrupted by full-scale wars built up the technological development by necessity and the infrastructure to boost civilian usage and popularity of advancement of flight_

_2) Economic competition in peace periods to increase efficiency, and improve infrastructure and management_

_3) Early adoption of rocketry (spurned forward by geniuses in the new field) for the use of gaining strategic advantages in both peacetime and wartime_

_4) A cold war between two superpower nations that competed both in terms of ideology (and their spread), but also in terms of military power, leading to a necessitated advance in space operations and rocketry, for both weapons (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, armed with nuclear weapons) and symbolic and propaganda purposes (space exploration)_

_5) Building off of #4, specific events (a definitive Soviet lead in the early years of the "Space Race") caused one of the superpowers to make a symbolic pledge: to put a human on the moon and return him/her safely before the end of the decade. With the will and resources to push for a lunar landing as early as possible, even with the then-inadequate technology and knowledge, drove unrelenting progress_

_6) A relatively soft and flat surfaced moon, making landing and operating on it easier than it could be_

_7) A strong focus on aircraft for military use (and intelligence gathering), thus leading to an early and thorough understanding of high-speed and high-altitude travel (note, however, that this has been theorized to be more than just coincidental, and could be based on the genetics, instincts, and/or culture of humanity). _

_8) A high tolerance for risk, on par with that of salarians_

_The result was a successful lunar landing mission far earlier than in any other known timeline of sapient species progression. The actual mission utilized technologies invented specifically for it, in addition to making do with extremely primitive technology (relatively speaking)._

_But the emotional and cultural impact was even greater than the technological one. From the beginning, humanity has kept its space activities entirely peaceful, and many times cooperative. The first lunar landing mission, which was broadcasted live across Earth, had little in the way of propaganda; it was treated as a monumental moment for all of humanity. Right after taking the first footstep on Luna, Neil Armstrong (a civilian) spoke the following: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Shortly after the spacecraft landed on the surface, fellow astronaut (and second on Luna) Buzz Aldrin spoke the following words to the world: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask everybody listening in, whoever or wherever they may be, to pause a moment...and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."_

_At the end of the mission, several objects were left on the lunar surface. Of them, one is particularly notable: a plaque, with two drawings of Earth (each depicting one of the hemispheres), and an inscription: "Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind." In addition to the plaque, a mission patch, depicting an eagle carrying an olive branch and landing on the moon, was left on the surface. The eagle represents freedom, and the olive branch represents peace. A parcel containing peaceful messages from leaders of 73 nations on Earth and a gold olive branch pin were also left on the surface. _

_That spirit and sentiment has continued to this day. The construction of the International Space Station, the relatively recent joint EU/China/Russia/USA lunar mission, and the multinational Mars mission (where humanity made First Contact with our civilization) stand as testaments to humanity's belief that its political differences should stay on Earth._

_With the creation of humanity's first colonies (paid for by the Council due to the low costs involved and invaluable diplomatic and scientific payoff) being independent sovereign entities, I foresee a unified human organization of some kind in the near future. I expect that that is exactly what the Council (and everyone else, really) is hoping for._

* * *

"So what's more likely? That an all-powerful, mysterious God created the Universe, and decided not to give any proof of his existence? Or, that He simply doesn't exist at all, and that we created Him, so that we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone?"

-Ellie Arroway, in _Contact_ (1997)

* * *

_Largest Nuclear Device (in terms of yield) Ever Constructed _or_ Detonated: Tsar Bomba_

_Detonation site: Earth_

_Purpose: Test, Demonstration_

_Yield: 50 megatons [sic; translate], though also easily modified to a 100 megaton [sic; translate] yield_

_Weight: 27 tonnes [sic; translate]_

_Date: 1961 of human standard calendar [sic; translate]_

_[Updated on 3429 Ikerel 17]_

_Additional notes: Originally planned as a 100 megaton bomb, the yield was halved based on fears of extensive collateral damage and geological disasters. Additionally, the loss of the crew of the bomber deploying the weapon would be guaranteed at that yield; even at 50 megatons and slowed by a parachute, the bomber crew barely escaped the blast. While not the physically largest nuclear device ever constructed (that "honor" also goes to humanity: the B-41 thermonuclear bomb, with a theoretical yield of 25 megatons [sic; translate]), it was by far the most powerful nuclear device ever deployed or tested. Nearly all buildings within 55 kilometers [sic; translate] were completely destroyed, and many buildings were destroyed and people injured hundreds of kilometers [sic; translate] away. Its shockwave destroyed windows and glass objects up to 900 kilometers [sic; translate] away. _

_Tsar Bomba was highly impractical as anything but a demonstration for a number of reasons. It was too large and too heavy to be deployed by missiles, and only a modified version of the largest available bomber was capable of deploying it. Most of the blast is inefficiently directed upwards, and the 100 megaton [sic; translate] version would cause devastating damage to the planet's atmosphere (and significant damage even if only tested once). It was also highly expensive. _

* * *

"If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space."

-Tagline, in _Contact_ (1997)

* * *

A/N: Now with 20% more quotes! But on a more serious note, I just felt them to be extremely appropriate for this chapter. And I'm experimenting.

**Please review! They motivate and inspire me, and the result of that is frequent updates. And I just love hearing from you guys :)**

How was the characterization, and the organization of the chapter? What did you like, or dislike? What would you like to see in future updates? Did anything you read here really resonate with you?

Until next time!


	10. Spirit

**A/N:** Hello readers! Long story short, life has been particularly tumultuous in the past couple months, and I haven't been in a mood to write much at all. I'm hoping that will change soon. Until then, here's a little tidbit to hold you over and to show you that I am not dead. :P

I wanted to mention that the first few chapters of this story were overly comedic compared to the rest of the story because I originally intended for the story to _actually be part comedy_. I also didn't think this story would get much of any attention, so I didn't really consider future possibilities.

This story is no where near the quality I'd like it to be, partly because it's what I call an "experiment fic", and because I'm writing this story by the seat of my pants without much editing going on. It's rough, it's flawed, and it's got a rather jarring flow. But you guys seem to like it a lot, so I'll keep churning out what I can for the experience/feedback to improve, and for you guys. I've been considering the idea of a total rewrite that starts off serious (but not dark) and is a much more contained story than this assorted collage of perspectives. If you have anything to say about that idea, feel free to say it in a review or PM.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 10: Spirit  
**

* * *

_Coexistence Honor Society awards first human Memorial Awards_

_The Coexistence Honor Society, known for its dedication to honoring proponents and heroes of coexistence, awarded Memorial Awards—given only posthumously— to humans for the first time. The CHS prefaced the announcement by saying that "they are the first of many."_

_Four in total, the awards were figuratively given to Mohandas __Karamchand__ Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Carl Sagan, and Charlie Chaplin. The CHS also bestowed a Takiri Award—the highest award that can be given to anything larger than a small group—to the Apollo Program, which brought humans to Earth's abnormally large moon (referred to by some as Earth's double planet twin) for the first time. The Apollo Program was selected mainly "because of its strong support for coexistence, honoring of space explorers from all nations, and driving a major cultural shift to seeing Earth as more vulnerable and less divided than before."_

_Particularly inspiring, the CHS committee said, was the plaque left on the surface of Earth's moon, Luna, after the very first mission to its surface in human history. Especially given the highly competitive, high-tension, war-of-ideologies environment of the time, the plaque's inscription "embodies some of the highest qualities the CHS stands for": "Here men from the planet Earth set foot on the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."_

* * *

_Mars, First Contact ongoing_

Kate stood in the bridge of the _Sialara_, both giddy and sad. The _Destiny_, and all of her related components, had been exceptional, carrying her and her fellow astronauts to Mars. Leaving her behind seemed like abandoning a faithful friend to chase after more popular kid on campus.

But it wasn't quite so bad once NASA started putting the final plan together. The autonomous systems on the _Destiny_ and its landing craft would allow the entire thing to return home on its own, albeit without the important aid of a crew.

Still, mission control's decision was unanimous: the _Sialara_ was a much safer and faster way home, and it could carry more cargo back (which Wavela was more than happy to offer).

In fact, because of the ease which the _Sialara_ could travel across vast distances both inside and outside planetary atmospheres, they were able to retrieve the _Spirit_ and _Opportunity_ Mars rovers. To the curiosity and interest of the alien crew, the news that two of the Mars rovers would be returned home brought emotional smiles to the _Destiny_'s crew.

The Mars Rovers held a special place in their hearts, even more so than most space exploration aficionados. As the first humans to set foot on Mars, these dutiful robots had paved the way to Mars long beforehand, taking dangerous, one-way suicide missions to help humanity understand their fascinating neighbor-planet.

Maybe, Kate thought, it was going too far to think of them as brave explorers they had left behind on distant worlds, alone. But everything that had happened in the past few days had given her new perspective: the rovers were just as much a part of humanity and its exploration of the cosmos as Yuri Gagarin and Buzz Aldrin. They may not have been alive, but they carried the spirit of humanity all the same.

When _Opportunity_ was first recovered and accessible to her, Kate was blown away at the surrealism of the experience. It was so unnaturally motionless, but it had the obvious signs of life, from the uneven red dust caking some of its parts and the random assortment of scratches and cracks along its body. As she and John slowly knelt in front of the rover, they ignored the presence of Keigo, Wavela, and several of the other aliens looking on. For those few moments, it was just the few fellow Mars explorers, somehow meeting for the first time and reuniting after decades apart. Though Kate felt slightly self-conscious and embarrassed for saying it out loud, she pushed those feelings aside when she lightly brushed her hand against _Opportunity's_ "head": "You're finally coming home, little guy. Sorry it took us so long…we missed you."

* * *

_Regular report to Council, shortly after recovery of _Spirit_ rover_

_/ /  
_

_I was originally perplexed when asked if the _Sialara_ could recover two robotic exploratory rovers from the surface of Mars. Given the circumstances, why would recovering these old robots be important? My first guess was that these robots, despite being decades old, probably had valuable data or samples in them. Given the relative ease at which the _Sialara_ could recover the two requested robots, I agreed immediately. _

_But I now realize the real reason why these robots were so significant to humanity (or at least the human explorers we met). They are fellow explorers to the human "astronauts". They were the first human creations sent to the surface of Mars, and they sent back invaluable data for years beyond their expected lifespans. To these humans, the robots were, in an abstract way, akin to people that had bravely accepted one-way missions to distant places with no hope of return or survival, all for the sake of exploration and greater understanding. For us to give them the opportunity to bring these robots back home, to Earth, is probably one of the most significant acts of friendship we have done so far in this mission. _

_Giving the astronauts a safer, faster return trip to Earth also gives us an extraordinary opportunity that first contact teams rarely get: we'll arrive on the surface of their homeworld for the first time right alongside humans. No, actually—not just alongside humans, but alongside _friends_. Also, it lessens the potential political issue of where we first land—bringing the astronauts back to their home base gives us an apolitical, strong reason for landing where we do. That said, we will do our best to emphasize that our relationship will be with all of humanity, not any one or group of nations. John advised that we do short, public visits with several countries around the world. I agree; our second stop will be to the United Nations headquarters (incidentally in the same country as the first stop, but it will still be a great opportunity; there will be respected and recognized delegates from over 200 (!) nations)_

_John warned me that many humans—thought definitely a minority—would be hostile to us (alien life in general), he also said (off the record) that, from a cultural, social, and political standpoint, it would be best if we proceeded very gradually, but also very openly. In other words, humans generally don't react well to large, sudden changes, especially when said changes encroach on their figurative and physical territory. He clarified, however, that being open and transparent would be seen very favorably; allowing some humans to see our civilization, culture, and other things for themselves would provide a much smoother transition. _

_I agree with his position, and I have no problem with letting that stand on the record. Inflicting change on them without firm human consensus could be very problematic and potentially disastrous. Instead, we should let humans decide how to change themselves. We have to be relatively open and completely honest with them. Our relationship should be founded on complete trust. If I learned anything from my stupid mistake mentioned earlier, it is that humanity as a whole generally prefers honesty over false reassurance. If they don't fully trust us, then we will alienate them no matter how good our intentions are, or what ends we seek to achieve. _

_As for the initial cost-benefit analysis of investing in humanity: I don't know nearly enough yet to give a reliable answer, but from what I do know, I'd say it's generally positive. Put in extremely general terms, I don't yet know if we're dealing with turians or asari, for example, but I know we aren't dealing with Rachni-War-Era krogan._

* * *

A/N: Very short, I know. I apologize for that.

About the recipients of the awards: Don't read too much into the selection. They're the first of many, and I haven't been in the mood for extensive research for a while. Charlie Chaplin is kind of the odd man out even then, but the guy was actually very influential in an unusual way. Some of his speeches are still quite touching in today's time.

If you don't know who Carl Sagan is, search "Carl sagan blue dot speech" and you'll get an idea of why this guy is so freaking important to humanity from the perspective of First Contact. And he's awesome in general, too.

As for the astronauts caring so much about the rovers: yes, people can and DO develop strong feelings for non-living objects. Astronauts especially have a history of doing this, whether it's the LEM that saved their lives in Apollo 13, or the Voyager probes. And given the important connection of being Mars explorers, just extrapolate...as for why just those two are recovered: easiest to locate, and the first that came to mind. And they'll hopefully be back for the others.

**Please review! Any feedback, ideas, suggestions, or questions are greatly appreciated and give me the much-needed fuel to write!**


	11. Cyanide and Happiness

A/N: Well, this is a bit shorter than I had planned, but I figured this was a good spot to leave off and, based on your feedback, find out if you like where this mini-arc is going.

A few minor notes beforehand:

1) I'm completely aware of the Sojourner rover, Curiosity rover, and the various probes. Sojourner was ruled out because of being much harder to locate (Mars has actual weather. Sojourner is TINY. Lots of dust. Over twenty years in the future. You do the math.) and Curiosity is too large (it's the size of a small car). That doesn't mean they'll be abandoned, just that they'll have to wait for future trips.

2) I apologize for any potential political issues that irk you in this story; the Cold War is obviously a huge and important topic (for a variety of reasons) that would get brought up early on. While it's very clear that the United States did not "win" the Cold War, it's really ambiguous whether or not the US went to softly dominate the world as the sole remaining military superpower. I think a close look at today's world indicates clearly that being a military superpower does not get you NEARLY as far as it once did, especially if your government is democratic. All that said, it's very easy to jump to conclusions, get the wrong idea, or be left wondering from an alien's perspective exactly what happened after the Cold War.

3) This story is pretty much being written as it goes. Thus, if certain details don't add up, I apologize for the lack of planning and foresight. John's name is probably the most glaring and embarrassing mixup (a different ME fic I was writing actively at the time had the name John as the protagonist...yeah), that's difficult to go back and fix because I don't have access to the original files anymore, and the formatting is lost when I try to copy-paste.

4) OK GO's "Needing/Wanting" music video gets a minor spotlight in this chapter, but I want to clear up _why_. It's not a masterpiece of music, nor is it even remotely new by 2034's standards. However, given the sheer novelty it presents, one of the astronauts might still remember it well, and find such a thing amusing to share with Wavela. And she, in turn, thought it might actually be really useful (in an abstract, diplomatic sense) to share with the Council. Again, at this stage in first contact, music and art are not important. It was just a case of, when the opportunity presented itself, this one piece happened to have some actual diplomatic value (in an abstract sense). Please don't kill me.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Cyanide and Happiness**

* * *

_Citadel Presidium, Two Weeks After _Sialara's _Arrival at Earth_

When Councilor Tevos received a data packet of video files, she hadn't been expecting works of pure art to be included among them. At this stage in first contact introductory diplomacy, art was a minor consideration at best.

But, as she had learned over the past week, Captain Wavela had a soft spot for art and philosophy.

Thankfully, the video file had descriptive metadata explaining its nature, but said little beyond what it was, aside from "yes, editing aside, this is actually real."

In their downtime (science had long since established that, for most species, overworking resulted in poorer decision making and judgment; the Citadel Government had been structured to place as little pressure as needed on the Council, even though that amount was still substantial, and their decision-making ability affected many billions of lives), the three councilors watched the various videos Wavela had sent. All but one were of the expected diplomatic nature; friendly meetings with various human leaders, interviews on popular human shows, and greeting crowds of impressive sizes. It was obvious that Wavela, as the sole non-human capable of speaking any human language (something that was being addressed quickly), she was extremely busy.

Tevos sympathized with her.

It seemed rather perplexing, then, that this video had nothing to do with the others. Where she found time to view this video was a mystery. But that juts made her all the more curious.

It began simply, but interestingly. Four humans in some kind of relatively small vehicle, dressed in strong (but contrasting) colors. It was completely unsubtitled or translated, so she had no idea what was being said, but she didn't understand how this video was supposed to be the music Wavela claimed it to be.

_Then_ she started to understand: the four humans were using the vehicle itself to make music, as well as a couple small (and peculiar looking) instruments. She was impressed; given the limited and unsuitable tools the musicians had available, the music was quite good.

She slightly lost composure when the vehicle started to slowly move, using improvised attachments to interact with precisely placed "sticks" to add new, unique sounds to the music. It was very creative; the vehicle was obviously not intended for any usage of this sort, and the music generated was a complete step above improvised instruments that some musicians used.

And then the vehicle rapidly accelerated, surprising her. An odd, obviously-custom-made device extended from the vehicle, and began hitting oddly-arranged (and odd-looking) instruments in such a way as to make even _more_ music. The car sped past various, strategically placed instruments and improvised objects to continue the (constantly varying) song, even through turns. Various protrusions, deployed by the passengers in the vehicle at the right time, hit the objects and instruments at the right speeds to maintain a nice melody and beat, often hitting three "lines" of objects simultaneously. And the driver was singing (in a way she hadn't heard before) the _entire time_.

Her jaw was much lower than usual when she realized the nature of the music: it wasn't particularly great (in her opinion) or creative in terms of sound, but the _execution_ and _construction_ of the music was mind-boggling. Using a heavily modified ground transport vehicle to play various melodies, sounds, and tempos by hitting carefully placed objects and instruments of immense variety at the right (high) speeds…it was like a gigantic, custom-made instrument being played by a high speed ground vehicle operated expertly.

Through the shock of wrapping her mind around the concept, she understood why Wavela chose to include this oddity in the data packet. It wasn't some masterpiece of art (at least not in any conventional way), or some representation of human music and culture. To her, it was something that removed the subconscious tension of not really _knowing_ humanity. It showed her the informal, artistic, and creative side to this new species. Not in the sense of how good their art was, or what their various cultures were like, but in the sense that, yes, they were a sapient species that did not take itself too seriously and was not ruthlessly pragmatic as a whole.

And, well, she wasn't embarrassed to admit that the video was _really_ cool, as a kind of quirky, impressive entertainment. She would definitely be showing it to her bondmate later that night.

* * *

_ESV Sialara, en route to Earth _

_/ /For Press Release: Agreement between NASA and Cpt. Wavela to proceed at relatively low speeds for diplomatic, psychological, and health reasons limits _Sialara's_ engine output to 30%_

"You guys just _found_ a giant portal network? Made with technology and materials beyond your comprehension, almost indestructible…and yet barely any evidence of the people who _built_ it?"

Wavela regarded Keigo with a small smile. He was definitely the most humorous of the bunch, but it was his half-sarcastic, half-incredulous questions that amused her the most. By typical asari standards, he would be written off as too young, too naïve, and too simple minded after a minute in his company.

She knew better. Despite his clear status as the "kid" of the astronaut trio, he was highly intelligent in ways that were easy to miss.

"Our best current understanding," Wavela answered, "is that the Protheans build the network for the future inhabitants of the galaxy to use, and then left their largely temporary homes and structures for either a return journey to their own galaxy or to travel onward to a new galaxy."

From what she'd picked up on in the past few days, she was pretty sure Keigo's expression was either confusion or skepticism.

"If that truly is the case," Keigo replied, "then they either have a massive cultural desire to invest unfathomable resources and manpower into catalyzing the growth of various galactic civilizations they don't even know of, or they built a giant trap."

Skepticism it was. And if it weren't for her additional meldings, she wouldn't have understood a decent chunk of it, either. "What makes you think the network is a trap?" she asked, doing her best to imitate the human facial expression for genuine confusion.

Keigo's expression was then something she couldn't identify at all. His eyes were bulging, his muscles were much tenser, and he seemed almost…_panicked_? "What makes me think it could be a _trap_?" he said, voice slightly raised and limbs much more animated, "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that _your entire galactic civilization_ is _completely dependent_ on an indestructible portal network that is _beyond your comprehension_?"

She realized that he was now half-sarcastic, half-panicked—but he did have a point. "We're not as dependent on it as you might think," she answered, trying to be reassuring. "Regardless, building it as a trap to exploit our dependency wouldn't be very logical."

"How do you figure?" John asked, speaking on the matter for the first time. When their recording devices were running—like now—he usually didn't talk much. He seemed to be a pretty reserved person.

"If they hadn't built the network," she explained, "we wouldn't be nearly as…advanced…as we are now. But, if they threatened to shut off the network, we'd just be where we would if we never had access to the network in the first place. In addition, the cost of building the network and the Citadel would be far greater than any potential gain from extorting our dependence."

Seeing Keigo start to really calm down, she continued. "However, the potential gains for freely providing the network _are_ possibly worth the investment, even if the Protheans didn't decide to construct it solely for moral or cultural reasons. The sheer amount and variety of art, culture, food, tactics, ideas, literature, technology, medicine, research, and more that have resulted from our access to the network could be of substantial value to the Protheans. The diplomatic benefits are immense, as well. The asari have long benefited from similar types of strategies: investing in a species or group, as well as the relationship with it, has _far_ greater payoff than exploitation and malevolent domination."

Wavela saw Keigo's (and the other humans') shoulders drop, facial muscles relax, and _very_ subtle smiles return. Though she was elated at her apparent progress with human expressions and social cues, she was more elated that she had apparently eased humanity's collective worries about the nature of the Mass Relay Network.

"Yeah, I suppose that does make a lot of sense," Keigo admitted. "We've pretty much concluded the same thing…about investment and good relationships, I mean." He paused, eyes inexplicably shifting to a random spot to the side of the table. "Though we haven't been very good at pulling it off."

She smiled warmly when she heard that; even if Keigo wasn't necessarily representative of humanity as a whole, the fact that, given the circumstances, one of the first human diplomats to Citadel space was humble and even critical of his own species said a great deal of positive things. "Neither were we, a long time ago," she reassured him. "Trust me: you'll get better. Even if your biology doesn't change much in the next hundred years, your culture undoubtedly will. In this amateur xenobiologist's opinion, cultural development is far more important than biological development, and has made all the difference in galactic civilization, time and time again."

John snorted, a strange smile forming on his face, contrasting the (possibly) guarded demeanor he conveyed with crossed arms and lack of eye contact. "Yeah, I guess we learned that during the Cold War."

Intrigued, she asked him what he meant. To her delight, he seemed more animated and confident than he had in days.

"Hmm…I'm not quite sure where to start," he began. His eyes drifted off to random points, rarely maintaining eye contact. "I guess World War 2. When it ended, there were two dominant superpower nations on Earth: Soviet Russia and the United States of America. They had almost complete opposite political and economic philosophies, and the desire to spread and secure their influence across the world, while limiting the other's as much as possible."

Interpreting his pause as an invitation to participate, Wavela tried to guess where the story was heading. "And the two superpower nations eventually realized that it was far more expensive to fight this global diplomatic war of influence than it was to be tolerant of each other and reconcile their differences?"

She was flabbergasted when he abruptly laughed harder than she'd ever seen a human laugh, even if it was brief. "No, no, we didn't get to that point for quite a while later. No, we did pretty much the opposite for a long time."

Clinically distant sadness pervaded her mind when she connected the dots. It must have been a horrific, bloody war…

"Thing is, both countries were developing nuclear weapons at about the same rate; they were brand new, and the first true superweapon ever. Given how World War 2 demonstrated the effectiveness—and even necessity—of using all of your military force as efficiently as possible, nuclear weapons were built, stockpiled, and improved upon constantly. It was an arms race, the likes of which humanity had never seen."

Distant sadness changed into immense worry. It sounded like humanity had gone down the same path as the krogan…she was terrified that John was about to say that humanity had suffered a massive nuclear war.

"So both sides made increasingly bigger nuclear weapons, until they got so big that they were just impractically huge. Then they shifted to new delivery methods—long range bombers, missiles, things like that. Eventually, it reached a point where both Soviet Russia and America had thousands of massive nuclear warheads mounted on huge, intercontinental ballistic missiles that could launch from underground missile silos, reach low orbit, deploy several nuclear warheads towards various targets, and then reach their targets in less than 30 minutes."

She didn't bother to conceal her horror when she realized the magnitude of that destructive power. If those weapons were actually _used_…Earth could look worse than _Tuchanka_ did. It might have even rendered humanity _extinct_, depending on the circumstances. And then they would end up on the short list of discovered, extinct civilizations that appeared to have wiped themselves out with nuclear weapons and the resulting ecological disasters.

But what prevented it from actually happening? If these superpower nations were crazy enough to build these horrifying stockpiles, what stopped them from using the weapons?

"That's when everything began to change," John explained. "Culturally, I mean. Everyone started to slowly realize just what would happen if those nukes were used. And since no one thought that both sides would refuse to use them if a conventional war started, everyone realized that _any_ direct war between Soviet Russia and America would be the end of the world as we know it. The real kicker was that both sides could detect missile launches and launch their own missiles faster than it would take for the other side's missiles to reach their targets. In other words, mutually assured destruction."

Wavela was beginning to understand. Sheer pragmatism had staved off nuclear war until humanity could develop enough culturally to realize the implications _of_ nuclear war. But then another serious concern developed in her mind before she could process it all. Were these two superpowers _still_ around, fingers on the trigger? If so, her job just got exponentially more difficult and serious. "Is that situation still true today?"

"Huh?" John asked, tilting his head to the side in a manner that instantly reminded Wavela of the superior/inferior indicator-gestures of batarians. "Oh, no. Not really. The Cold War ended…forty years ago, about. The Soviet Union collapsed, though a lot of people were really surprised that it did. After that…it's hard to explain. America was technically the sole superpower nation on Earth, with a gigantic military and huge influence. But…then it all just kind of fizzled out. The world had changed."

_Does he mean that, without a rival to match it, the remaining superpower held a peaceful dominion over the planet?_ Wavela wondered. _Or does he mean that being a military superpower stopped being all that meaningful? _She mentally filed that mystery away for later. The important part was that nuclear war seemed unlikely at present, and that the political climate was calm enough that the astronauts could seem relatively apathetic about it all.

Wavela was thankful when Ensign Nolera chose that moment to approach the table, carrying a tray full of food. Politics was the least favorite aspect of first contact that she had to deal with. "May I join you, Captain?" she asked in a language the humans could not yet comprehend.

With an affirmative response, the elder asari moved over to indicate _where_ Norlera should sit, too.

"That smells pretty good," Kate said, eying the alien cuisine hungrily. One could only go so many weeks on the same dry, relatively bland, pre-packaged meals without yearning for something _new_ at least.

"You know you can't eat it," Keigo absently mentioned.

"Not even a _little_ bit?" she asked, an odd inflection to her tone puzzling Wavela.

"You were _there_ when CAPCOM gave us the instructions!" Keigo retorted, somewhere between exasperated and disbelieving.

"Yeah, but a little taste couldn't possibly hurt," she replied, an odd, subtle smile playing at her lips.

"Anaphylactic shock, seizures, acidity, and amino acid chirality alone say otherwise!" Keigo bit back, looking alarmed and baffled. "For all we know, they might use _cyanide_ as a _sweetener_!"

For a moment, none of them moved, and Wavela felt like she was looking at some kind of surreal picture, until…

Kate broke first, snickering as she doubled over. John just shook his head as he valiantly tried to contain his chuckles. Keigo, to Wavela's intrigue and amusement, gradually realized whatever was going on and rolled his eyes—a gesture that puzzled her as much as it fascinated her.

"Funny," Keigo said in a mock-bitter tone. "I try to keep my crew from killing themselves, and they make jokes at my expense…"

Representative of the human race as a whole or not, the interactions were fascinating to the asari.

"Are they always like this?" Nolera asked, deferring to her superior's experience.

"We'll find out, won't we?" Wavela answered back in Galactic.

* * *

A/N: If CAPCOM is not actually how this would be referred to, I apologize for my misunderstanding.

Also, Nolera is finally back in the story. Yeah. Who saw _that_ one coming? Because if you didn't, you'd be someone familiar with my faults when writing by the seat of my pants. It's like the Indy Ploy of writing. Chekhov's Guns will tend to be few and far between.

About the small list of problems Keigo mentions about eating alien food: relax, he's just listing the first few things that come to mind when he's already baffled. I'm aware that they might be redundant, at least medically. Sorry...

**Please review! I'm always looking for new ideas and feedback for this story, and hell, that stuff is the only reason this story went beyond the first chapter at all!**


	12. This Is Not A Pipe

A/N: Hey, look, an infodump! Kidding aside, this chapter is 100% non-human written articles about humanity (in-story, obviously...).

There's not a whole to say this time, but there are some important things I'd like to say before you start reading the chapter proper:

1) Thank you so much for your support! I've been rather overwhelmed by the incredible reaction you guys have given this story since its beginning, but you still continue to surprise me. Your ideas are definitely appreciated (and may well be used in the future!) and, without fail, give me inspiration and motivation to continue this story. So thank you =)

2) This chapter should not be taken as "truth" or "fact", at least not in the typical sense. The people writing these articles are A) alien, B) lacking access to all of the information about what they're writing about, C) Are using information that are either some of the first translated human works or information provided by secondary sources (that are also alien and, abstractly, new to English as well), and D) As bizarre as it is to say, "human". They can make mistakes. Like me. Chill, people.

* * *

**Chapter 12: This Is Not A Pipe**

* * *

_Human Treatment of Non-sentient and Non-sapient Races_

_In our endeavor to better understand human morality (and how it varies), one area researchers consider paramount of the treatment of non-sentient and non-sapient races._

_To clarify: sentience is defined as the ability to have subjective experiences, emotions, and a conscious sense of self; sapience is a "step up" from that, requiring the ability to communicate distinct ideas to others, to be aware of one's self and own ego, and to be aware of one's own thoughts. While the definitions can vary in more informal usage (or usage in other fields), these are the definitions this paper will be working with._

_Non-sentient races:_

_Generally, humans do not particularly care about the treatment of such races (unless driving to extinction) so long as there is no unnecessary cruelty (which is determined by the contextual moral norms). However, there _is_ an almost constant view held today by humanity that one should not treat these races in such as way as to reflect poorly on him or herself. In other words, even if some possible benefit might be had by dissecting living non-sentient species, doing so would be unnecessarily cruel as the possible benefit (and the _need_ for that benefit) is not nearly worth the cruelty (or committing it)._

_Harming non-sentient creatures for non-scientific, non-safety, non-health (including psychological health), and non-utilitarian (fixing a disturbed ecosystem, for example) reason is almost universally frowned upon._

_Non-sapient races:_

_This area is by far the most important in terms of philosophy, culture, and morality. Interestingly, humanity has a varying, yet profound, stance on this issue. I will try to explore all of the major human views on this issue, as well as many of the simply profound ones too._

_Humans are omnivores, which means that, while they can indeed get sufficient nutrients solely from eating non-sentient food or supplements, meat is a core part of their diet. As such, domesticated animals are bred, grown, and slaughtered for their meat (and, sometimes, other resources). Plants, fruit, vegetables, and other types of plant-like food are grown in similar ways. There is, however, a very big degree of controversy over the specifics of how this is done._

_Giving these animals "humane" (roughly meaning "moral" and "without cruelty") treatment while they are raised and when they are slaughtered is a popular and growing movement on Earth, and legislation addressing these issues have been frequently enacted for decades. _

_A relatively small but very significant minority of humans are "vegetarians", who do not eat meat. In most of those cases, it is done due to moral objections, but many cases are for dietary, convenience, cost, or health reasons. Even in the majority that do so for moral objections, other factors may contribute significantly. _

_There are also strict laws (depending on the country, of course) about which _kinds_ of animals can be killed outside of self-defense or other such justifiable reasons. Dogs, for example (which I will cover later), cannot be used for food in most large countries. In India (one of the most populous nations on Earth), cows are considered sacred (for both cultural and religious reasons), and killing them to eat their meat is a crime. Many species that are rarely found outside of the "wild" or nature preserves are off-limits for such purposes. What are the reasons for this discrepancy? Several theories have been suggested, though one I heard from a human makes the most sense to me: "I suppose it's a matter of both necessity and connection. In other words, if we don't need to kill a certain species for food, and if the food provided is less and/or worse than what we already have in abundance, then it's unnecessary cruelty. If we have a strong connection with a certain species—cultural, emotional, historical, or whatever—then we may treat that species differently than we do others in its position." That explanation does make logical sense and also accounts for the high degree of variability. _

_Hunting is a complex and controversial issue. In essence, there are three kinds of hunting for humanity: sport, practical-but-unnecessary, and necessary. The third one is the most clear-cut: when hunting is the only effective way to obtain food and/or resources for survival, or when hunting is the means to eliminate a specific threat to one's livelihood in a clearly defined and limited way. Practical-but-unnecessary is when hunting is done without necessity, but the hunt is done with the predetermined and requisite goal of using the resources acquired from the hunt. Lastly, the sport hunting is the most controversial (and the only kind that is currently seriously challenged), as it is both unnecessary and not done with the predetermined and requisite goal of using the resources from the hunt. The hunt is mainly for enjoyment. _

_Hunting is not a fully regulated activity in many places, though some types of hunting (as well as some prey) are widely prohibited. _

_There is a classification system for determining how "threatened" the survival of a species is, and the more threatened it is, the more widely and strictly prohibited killing them is (except in clear cases of self defense). Particularly fascinating is that this attitude and system extends even to species that are largely harmful to humans. Some species of sharks, for example, are known to attack (and often kill) humans that are within their ability to reach (since they are an aquatic species)—however, hunting them is both not encouraged and prohibited in many places. _

_Humans also treat species that don't significantly inconvenience them surprisingly well, when not legally hunted. There are many cases of humans providing food and shelter to "neutral" animals they do not know (and will later set free or transport to a safe location). Zoos—where various kinds of animals, mammals, and insects are held in humane captivity and given food, shelter, and toys/entertainment so that humans can observe, admire, and even interact with them. Interestingly, even very dangerous species are often present, though they are all (if possible) trained by specialists to interact safely with humans, or failing that, to interact safely with trained humans in the right circumstances. With some species, specific animals/mammals are trained to not only work with humans to conduct complex and coordinated performances, but to have actual friendships with their trainers. Most of the time, these trainers care a great deal about these animals, even when they are dangerous to interact with._

_But it is the treatment of species that have symbiotic relationships with humans that fascinates me the most. While other sapient species have long since utilized symbiotic relationships with non-sapient species (only to a great extent outside of raising a species for food and resources), humanity is unique in that it has actively cultivated and maintained symbiotic relationships with non-sapient species for a wide variety of non-resource reasons. By far the most prevalent of those reasons—and this fascinates me to no end—is for simple companionship. Having pets is not uncommon in the rest of the galaxy, and even getting one for companionship isn't exactly rare, but humanity takes this to a level far beyond that. Dogs and cats—both vague terms that each refer to a different "family" of species, both of which are quadruped, animals, "furry", sentient, and hunter-scavengers. Though one "family" is obviously not better than the other, I will focus on dogs to better illustrate my point._

_Dogs are widely referred to as "humanity's best friend". That alone should tell you just how ubiquitous this relationship is. That relationship began long ago, where two competing apex predators teamed up, thus forming and developing an extremely symbiotic relationship. To convey just _how_ symbiotic it is, I will list the widely recognized roles that dogs (often, but not always trained for such) fill even _today_: companionship (which, in itself, improves physical, psychological, and emotional health), therapy, search and rescue, drug and illicit chemical searchers, retrieving things (including those floating in bodies of water), herding, guiding the blind (_**everywhere**_) and deaf, general protection (to varying degrees, most of which do not involve any training and are just additional benefits of owning a dog), hunting, tracking, _warfare_, first-responder alerting and guiding, detection of people or animals (though they are usually trained not to react when taken outside of established locations), detection of some immediately imminent natural disasters (though this is not a trained role, and is a skill that many Earth animals have, though usually just as a result of fleeing any possible disturbance), pest control, _acting_, entertainment/performing, _athletes_ (in some less common sports), alerting one's owner when he or she is exhibiting initial warning signs of an impending _seizure_ (something which needs special training, and as such is only used with people who have a condition which regularly causes seizures) in order to allow the owner ample time to get medical treatment beforehand, and _bomb detection_. As far as benefits for the dogs go, they are: shelter (including, most of the time, a very comfortable environment), a highly stable and nutritious food supply (requiring no effort to obtain), additional treats, advanced medical attention and treatments, advanced medical expertise, frequent play, companionship, safety (both from the environment and even most potential predators; nearly all possible predators avoid most domestic dogs because of their association with humans), intellectual and psychological enjoyment (most often in "work" roles, which dogs usually love doing), a strong sense of belonging (when living with a typical human/human family), additional physical comfort (humans enjoy "petting" dogs, many owners even _cuddle_ with them frequently, and some humans regularly sleep with their dogs next to them on their beds), caring and experienced guides to a likely hostile and foreign environment (urban and suburban settings are not ones that most animals are well adapted to), a steady reproduction rate for the species as a whole (most dogs are neutered early on to prevent unwanted litters and to possibly reduce aggression, sex drives, and other things), and frequent and advanced grooming. _

_Impressed yet? True, just from reading that one could reasonably assume that it is just a case of a symbiotic relationship happening to be extremely practical even in a modernized society. However, allow me to disprove that notion._

_Dogs (and cats, certainly, but I am focusing on dogs for this paper) have become increasingly integrated with human families, humans in general (on an individual basis), human culture and art, and human society in general. As quoted and translated from the human internetworked omni-encyclopedia, Wikipedia: "There have been two major trends in the changing status of pet dogs. The first has been the 'commodification' of the dog, shaping it to conform to human expectations of personality and behavior. The second has been the broadening of the concept of the family and the home to include dogs-as-dogs within everyday routines and practices."_

_Both trends are unique and fascinating. The former suggests that dogs are so integrated with the human existence that there is a significant trend of shaping dogs to be more human. The latter suggests a major trend and mentality that dogs, despite clearly being a separate (and very different, including being non-sapient) species from humans, are treated as family members that partake in many of the constant routines and activities of their "families". It is common for human dog owners to have a very close, friendly, _loving_, and overtly expressive relationship with their dogs. In fact, one of the reasons dogs are generally such good companions and therapy-assistants is that they are known to be very friendly to, non-judgmental of, and emotionally appreciative of safe strangers. Imagine where that relationship goes with families. As I emphasized earlier, it is common for human dog owners to truly love their dogs and genuinely mourn their loss. Most dog owners go to significant effort to find and recover their lost dogs, often advertising a substantial paid reward for information leading to that goal. It is not uncommon for human dog owners to put themselves in danger to protect or rescue their dogs. Dog adoption is very common and animal shelters just as much so._

_It gets even better. Many (factual) stories exist of dogs sacrificing their own lives to save the life/lives of their owners, friends, or even strangers (including other dogs). One dog that fought in a major war alongside with his unit picked up a live grenade that was thrown at his comrades and ran with it towards the enemy position. That grenade would have otherwise killed many soldiers. Another dog, also fighting in a war-battle, swam to the shore after his boat was destroyed. Upon realizing that its owner was not with him, he swam _back_ towards the sunken ship to find and help his owner to shore (which he did, successfully). One dog protected a human baby from several larger predators, even while sustaining lethal injuries, instead of running away. The dog died, but saved the baby's life in the process. There are also very famous cases of dogs who display such extreme loyalty that they literally have statues erected in their honor and become national (or international) figures. The most famous example is Hachiko, a dog who was very close with his owner, who taught at a somewhat distant university. Every day, Hachiko would accompany his owner to the train station to see him off, and every day Hachiko would wait for his owner to arrive back at the train station to walk home with him. When the owner died unexpectedly at the university, the dog went to the train station and waited. Every day, Hachiko would go back to the train station around the time his owner was supposed to arrive, and wait there, in the same spot, for _nine years _(approximately 75% of a dog's average lifespan), until the day he died. People who frequented the train station often provided food and assistance to the dog, too. After his death, several statues were erected in his honor, and Hachiko is still both a national symbol of loyalty for Japan, but is a somewhat famous story/figure to humanity as a whole. _

_When dogs near the end of their lives (and are thus suffering from an inevitable decrease in life quality), owners usually euthanize their dogs with the help of professional veterinarians. The almost universal method of doing so is to inject a drug to painlessly force unconsciousness, and then to inject a drug to cause quick, painless death. Dog owners usually bury in a coffin or cremate their dog's remains, both of which are the two vastly common treatments for human remains. _

_Bringing us back towards the original, broad topic, euthanasia of dogs that are suffering (without another way to alleviate it) or will endure suffering (often because no one is available to care for them) is the ubiquitous practice. Animal euthanasia is also expected when the suffering animal is in human hands/care, even if only briefly (again, only if other options are not available or practical). Animals that are used as test subjects for experimentation are expected to be painlessly euthanized after the experimental phase is over (or earlier, if the experiment requires it). _

_Additionally, humans actively protect and/or assist the population growth of endangered species, even at somewhat significant financial cost. _

_Finally, it is important to note the profound, even if relatively small or uncommon, findings with regards to human treatment of non-sapient and non-sentient species. There is a significant minority of humans that are "vegan", meaning that they don't eat or drink products that come from harmful or abusive treatment of animals. There are significant lobbies for animal rights across Earth. Many significant organizations have stances (and some actively pursue them) against any animal testing that is unsafe to the health of the test subject. When an insect is found inside a human's home, some humans find ways to move the insect outside the home without harming it, instead of the much faster and easier act of killing it. Perhaps most profound (though most rare, as well) are groups of people that go to great lengths to not harm _any_ non-sentient animal, mammal, or insect. Some of them don't even wear any _clothes_ because of the risk of an insect getting caught on/in them and dying. Some humans devote money, time, and resources to helping endangered species, even outside of governmental efforts, and to varying degrees. Some humans literally protect or help endangered species from threats (including other humans) as a career, independently of government efforts. _

_Now, I don't want to give you the incorrect impression that all humans treat non-sapient species relatively well—either through unintended consequences of unrelated actions, over-hunting (though this is quite rare in modern times), or human-caused disasters, many animal species have been rendered extinct or endangered. One could say that humanity, as a whole, has made huge strides towards better treatment and protection of other species on Earth in recent decades, but has also caused significant damage to other species and ecosystems, even unintentionally rendering some species extinct purely through human efforts, neglect, and/or ignorance. _

_However, I think the current conclusion (and clear trend) on this issue is that humanity already achieved total, active, and inclusive coexistence with another non-sapient species before they even knew of our existence. Events during and after First Contact with humanity strongly suggest that this attitude will apply to us as well, and will develop substantially (for the better) over time, provided that our relationship with humanity as a whole does not turn sour._

* * *

_This Is Not A Pipe—The Extranet's Source For Human Information And Analysis_

_To clarify and give some "truer" insight into the human oddity of finding even dissimilar species "cute" (as well as the human connotations of the concept), I'm going to post this as an addendum article. _

_The word "cuteness", as we currently understand (unfortunately, only in English currently, but hopefully this will be rectified soon) it, is a quality that someone (or a representation of such) has (sometimes strictly temporarily, depending on the case), which elicits strong reactions of affection, urge to protect, urge to trust, urge to interact with, urge to help, and urge to sympathize with. _

_Important note: "cute" can be (and often is) used to refer to objects, such as clothing (though usually just in the context of its relation/interaction with someone/people/animals) as well as people (in a sense of beauty). However, that usage is more informal and contextual, and isn't the point of this article._

_The subject is far denser than what I am going to cover here, so consider this just a small insight. _

_Human babies are almost universally considered cute. That also extends to the infants and young of many other species, including ones that are not at all similar (including the infants/young of _dangerous, potential predators of humans_), which is so far entirely unique to humanity. As much as that parenthesized note astounds me, what I find most intriguing is how significant this phenomenon is in human culture._

_A cute picture is likely to be passed around to one's friends. An extremely cute picture is likely to be shared with millions over their "Internet" (as covered elsewhere, think of it as a local extranet). Cuteness is even a major cultural phenomenon in some large human countries. As informally explained to asari translator-diplomats, an example of the power of cuteness would be a human seeing a very cute dog in a random video, who then immediately has the urge to interact with, cuddle with, protect, play with, and gush overt affection towards the dog. For added perspective, dogs look nothing like humans—they're quadrupeds that are far longer than tall, completely covered in long, thick "hair" (which humans have comparatively little of, aside from the upper half of their heads), and usually have elongated, pointed snouts, faces, and mouths. _

_Yeah, that makes no sense to me either. Well, sort of. I know that humans and dogs have a LONG, very close relationship that even had/has strong evolutionary effects. But that isn't the cause, because this same effect occurs when the cute subject is a young turtle (which look absolutely nothing like humans, and don't even interact much with humans at all, and never really did historically, either). I wonder if they would react the same way to an infant _krogan_?_

_Update, 14:32: Special thanks to a friend of mine (who wished to remain anonymous), who actually managed to test this out (she's a diplomat on Earth, and that's all I can say). She showed a few pictures of various infant and (very) young krogan to a few humans. Guess what? While there was definitely some various on which krogan/pictures were considered cute (and how much, which is especially odd, given that it was subject to change even when asking the same human about the same krogan, just using a different picture), the clear answer is _yes_. Unbelievable. _

* * *

A/N: Well, this is the fruit of an afternoon's labor. Normally, it takes a LOT longer to write a chapter of this length, but stuff like this is usually easier for me to write.

__**Please review! Your reviews, ideas, constructive criticisms, and perspectives give me the motivation and inspiration to write more!  
**

If you'd like, here are some questions to answer in your review:

1) Did you get all of the subtle references in this chapter? If so, which ones?

2) How did you like this chapter (or not like it)? What worked, and what didn't?

3) Should I write more chapters like this in the future? If so, how often, approximately?

4) Any criticism, or story ideas?

Thanks! :)


	13. Tentatively, Please Explain

A/N: I've gotten quite a few reviews expressing concern that I've drifted into "humanity is superior"/"humanity wank", and so this chapter has been changed significantly (in terms of what's covered) to address that. I admit I haven't really organized the good/bad analysis well; to me, I had many specific flaws and shortcomings of humanity lined out, but I rarely focused on them, until now.

To be clear: humanity is not superior, period. Even in times where we advance absurdly fast, we _still_ don't match up well because half the world is still living in the standards of 200 years prior (figuratively speaking). We're unusually diverse, but we're also far less cohesive and efficient as a people. Etcetera. Strengths _and_ weaknesses, often in the form of a double-edged sword.

**I know that the "main" story is progressing slowly, and I promise that WILL completely change next chapter.** I just felt that clearing up valid perceptions of "humanity is superior" in this story took priority.

Without further ado, enjoy.

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**Chapter 13:** **Tentatively, Please Explain**

* * *

_Though I respect my colleagues and their work, I feel that they unintentionally only showed half of the picture regarding humanity._

_As obvious as it is to say, I'll reaffirm it anyway: they're like us. Imperfect, flawed—perhaps heavily so. They have many incredible, endearing, and inspiring traits, as a whole. They also have horrifying, absurdly irrational, and contradictory traits as well. Like us, they will grow and mature as a whole over time. That progress is often inconsistent, but the overall pattern is there._

_From what we currently understand (which, given the nature of these studies, isn't nearly as much or as well as we'd like), much of the same qualities that make humanity amazing also make it irrational, inefficient (in most ways), and inconsistent. While that concept is not exactly unknown to us (in the sense that I will refer to), it is perhaps taken to a much higher degree than we are familiar with._

_The best, albeit oversimplified, way to explain this is to start with this leading theory: humans think in different ways than we do (or at least the vast majority of us do). No, I don't mean they're better or worse, just different. They arrive at most of the same conclusions, but the path they take to get there is strange, usually inefficient, and often absurd. But sometimes that same way of thinking also fuels extreme creativity and ingenuity. Sometimes it allows them to reach a much better conclusion faster than would otherwise be possible. Sometimes (or, perhaps, often times) it leads to poor conclusions, or even _worse_ conclusions than what they started with. Roughly comparing salarian technological development with that of humanity (using a comparable time period for each), overall trends and patterns are relatively clear: salarian tech progress was faster and almost always more cutting edge, but human tech progress excelled in the areas of market penetration, as well as being generally more reliable (I say generally, because sometimes the exact opposite is the case). Another example is with human war tactics within a 20 year span—in their first "World War", their tactics were outdated against the recent technological developments, leading to insanely high casualties for almost no change at all for the entire duration of the war (which also highlights the problematic stubbornness of humanity in general). Twenty years later, they were using highly advanced, innovative, and creative tactics (which sometimes were ahead of the technology needed to make them effective, ironically) in many different kinds of situations. Instead of stubbornly sticking to outdated and horrifically ineffective tactics time after time for four years, both sides of the second "World War" were constantly adapting, innovating, and trying new tactics. _

_In other words, humanity is not only a wildcard to _us_, they're a wildcard to _themselves_. They seem to be very frustrated with themselves in that regard, and understandably so. The unusual level of diversity and variety of humanity (in nearly every regard) also causes huge problems for them, too: getting things done can be absurdly difficult even when the solution is simple and extremely agreeable. Technological progress in one area may inexplicably grind to a halt while another area booms—but the booming area may be ignored or marginalized (which is absurd to other species). Their democratic governments are extremely stable and highly adaptable (relatively speaking), but they only reach that state if they can survive the usually tumultuous and chaotic years following their formation. However, their democracies sometimes rely on the principles of curbing their own ability to accomplish or change things in a reasonable amount of time or degree—put another way, they have to keep themselves in check to save themselves from themselves. _

_As a whole, humanity tends to react to cognitive dissonance in irrational, illogical, and sometimes horrifying ways. And the negative results are enormous. Our current psychological understanding of most races indicates that cognitive dissonance is most often resolved by seeking outside perspective or changing one's beliefs so that they do not conflict logically or rationally. A typical human approach to resolving cognitive dissonance is to dismiss the conflict's existence itself, or to adopt a new thought/idea that eliminates the conflict (whether or not said idea has any logical, rational, factual, or philosophical merit, which is the important distinction). The final common approach (which is the only one also well-known to us) is to resolve the dissonance by forcing oneself to not care._

_There are other related effects and psychological practices, but I don't have enough translated material yet to comment on them. I could, potentially, also be wrong or have interpreted the data incorrectly, but this is our best guess at present. Regardless, this previously uncommon dichotomy of being simultaneously extremely empathetic and extremely uncaring (sometimes even hateful) can be largely explained by that concept. _

_Humans are also highly individualistic (except in highly collectivist societies) and ambitious. They are not at all hesitant to let their opinions be known, and many deliberately express them as vocally/noticeably as possibly (with the important distinction that they will do so even without anonymity). The result, at least in part, is that human societies are usually chaotic and inefficient (especially when that individualism and ambition lead to selfishness in many cases), but also (generally) far more diverse and complex. I believe a (true and verified) story explains the strengths and weaknesses of such a situation: intellectual and open-minded humans express acute envy at the societies and governmental systems of, say, turians and asari, lamenting how theirs are so much fairer, efficient, and happier than humanity's. But when asked about how the humans viewed the strengths/diversity of their own unique-yet-bizarre societies, they expressed surprise and confusion that turian and asari societies didn't _also_ have them, too. This next point is just speculation, but I think humanity's society (or the majority of their societies) are designed around this abnormally high individualism and ambition, and so systems that are both free/tolerant and far more effective/efficient than their own seem entirely better, because they can't imagine such a system _not_ being built around those ideals of high individualism and ambition. I could easily be wrong, though, so take that speculation with a heavy dose of skepticism._

_I also need to reiterate that, as a logical inverse to what I mentioned earlier, some humans indeed think the way the vast majority of us do. Anyone with even a basic familiarity with statistics, sociology, or other such fields understands that every group has variation, and the larger the group, the more variation. And, interestingly enough, humanity has more variation than any other species out there (to clarify, I mean that more along the lines of extreme or strong variation occurring more often and consistently, not that their variation is more extreme or strong period). _

_I suppose that is what we find most fascinating about humanity as a whole: it varies more consistently, it varies more often, and it varies in more inconsistent ways than any other species-wide group. As I will try to explain, that has both good and bad consequences, on both an individual and species-wide level._

* * *

_ESV Sialara, en route to Earth_

"…so the elcor walk on all fours?"

Wavela tried to understand Kate's question for several moments before giving up. "'On all fours'?"

"They walk on all four of their limbs," Kate clarified. "Sorry."

"Ah," the asari continued, perplexed at the utterly bizarre phrase. "Yes, they do. Even then, they're still taller than most people."

Keigo let out a high pitched, sharp noise—Wavela had never heard anything like it. "They must be pretty big, then," he said.

She nodded, but quickly asked what noise he had just made before they passed the topic up.

"Oh! That was a whistle," he answered, as if that explained everything.

Expecting a more thorough answer, it took her a moment to realize she needed to ask for more details.

"It's, uh…" he seemed at a loss for words, scratching the back of his neck as he looked everywhere in the room but her (which she found rather intruiging). "I've never really had to explain it. You just blow air out of your mouth while shaping your mouth, tongue, lips, and jaw the right ways, I guess."

_Ah_, Wavela thought, finally understanding. It was specific to their biology; almost every race had unique kinds of sounds they could make with that kind of methodology. Still, it was pretty interesting—the sound had been _very_ distinct, even if it wasn't exactly pleasant to hear. "Can you make any other noises like that?" she asked, curious.

To her surprise, Keigo's facial and neck skin turned red—a reaction that she was dying to understand. "Uh, yeah," he answered. "It's kinda…embarrassing to do them all, like, in a situation like this."

She moved quickly to assuage his concerns. "I am the one who asked you to do it; any embarrassment would be mine."

He looked at her skeptically for a couple moments before nodding. "Alright, if you say so. Well, I'll start off with some whistling…"

_Fascinating_, she thought, hearing Keigo whistle a full tune and melody. She hadn't thought it to be that adaptable, given how loud and piercing the noise was. _Then_ Keigo started doing other, very different kinds of noises, and she couldn't help but laugh—many of them were as bizarre as they were ridiculous; even if an asari _could_ make similar sounds, she doubted that any _would_ past their 20th birthday.

Nolera, however, seemed to embrace the opportunity to act childish in an appropriate and accepted context, and even managed to replicate some of the sounds—to the great enjoyment of the humans.

Having to translate everything being said to and from English was something of a chore, but it did bring up some interesting questions she hadn't thought of, surprisingly. "What are the weirdest quirks about their language, Captain?" Nolera asked.

It wasn't the kind of question she had given much thought to yet, surprisingly. But after thinking for a few moments, the first things that came to mind sufficed: "You wouldn't believe it, but several common and important words are pronounced exactly the same, but are spelled differently and mean completely different things."

Nolera looked at her incredulously. "But—that's a horrible design flaw for a modern language to have! The only way to distinguish between them in conversation would be context, which is something to be avoided as much as possible! That's a _basic_ language goal!"

Relaying Nolera's comments to the humans, she received a hilarious reply: "They're eating their apples there."

Nolera didn't need a translation to get the example.

"Hey, it could be _much_ worse," Keigo added. "Just look at Mandarin or Japanese—they don't really have an alphabet, they just have thousands of complex symbols that each mean a word and are pronounced as a single syllable."

Wavela gaped at the human, disbelieving. "That—_what?_ How does that even work? How would you even type in such a language?"

"Not very easily," Keigo answered. "There are a variety of methods, some of which can even work really well if you're good enough, but there still isn't a standard method."

"Wait," Kate interjected, "sorry to backtrack, but I still don't understand why elcor and hanar communicate more easily than with other races."

"Because elcor don't convey emotion or tone the way most races do; they use subtle smells and extremely subtle sounds—which, thanks to the environment suit hanar always have to wear on land anyway, can be automatically translated easily," Wavela explained, glad to have an easy question for once.

"Why do hanar have to wear environment suits everywhere?" John asked, not putting the pieces together (unusual, for him).

"They are an aquatic species," was the answer. "They have a combined body and head that's about twice as large as your head, and then long, sturdy…tentacles…that give them mobility and allow them to interact with their environment."

"Woah!" Keigo didn't hesitate to show his excitement. "Like giant squid?"

She had no idea what that was, and told him as much. His reaction—much to her chagrin—indicated that the question was rhetorical, anyway.

"Wow, _that's_ going to have an interesting effect," he concluded, amused.

"How so?" John asked, looking at his friend with a quirked eyebrow. Kate's reaction almost mirrored his, too.

"Rule 34?" was all Keigo had to mention. Kate instantly doubled over in laughter, contrasting John's horrified, disgusted expression.

Wavela was _far_ too curious to let that one slide. "What is rule 34?"

The reaction that followed would continue to baffle her for months. The three humans simultaneously turned to stare at her, blankly, their movements and expressions frozen for several moments, until they all quickly delved into nervous laughter. "Aaaah…that's…that's a story for another time," Keigo answered.

Now she _really_ wanted to know.

Thankfully, both of the human recording devices had been switched to a local-storage-only setting (more subtle devices of salarian design were running constantly, though the humans didn't need to know that, and there was no ill intent behind it all), so she kept pressing them to answer in a friendly manner.

It took surprisingly little time to get an answer. And of course, Keigo, the mostly-shameless person of the trio, was the one to answer. "Rule 34 is pretty simple. It states: 'There is porn of it. No exceptions.'"

A few moments of shock later, and she was laughing harder than she had in a long time. The asari's pro-sex attitude was widely known to the galaxy, and she'd even seen some hanar/asari porn herself—but even then, for such a concept to be stated so bluntly, ubiquitously, and somehow hilariously was something she _had_ to pass on in her next report to the Council. If anything, they'd get a laugh from it (even the _salarian_ councilor, which would be one of her crowning achievements if she succeeded).

"That concept isn't new to us," she said to ease their concerns, "but I've never heard it named and put so bluntly and…oddly humorous, before."

"Weeeeeeell," Keigo remarked, speaking louder than before, "glad to know we're not alone in being…you know," he lamely finished, waving his hand vaguely in the air.

_As if that would help explain his meaning at all…humans are so bizarre, _she concluded, though with a degree of fondness.

* * *

…_in comparison, Earth is something of a slum or struggling state. Our poverty rates are so much higher that it's almost absurd. Based on initial, informal assessments, our governments are more corrupt and our markets are very under-regulated. _

_On the whole, we have more murder, and far more rape (not counting the salarians, where rape isn't really applicable because of their biology). _

_They turn the "realist" theory of international relations on its head. None of the Council races (or the elcor, volus, hanar, drell, and quarians) have ever used a nuclear weapon on a garden world (outside of testing). Suicide bombing is, at present (and as best as we know so far), a uniquely human phenomenon. We're the only race that both distinguishes civilians from combatants and deliberately targets civilians in military operations. _

_We have an _absurdly_ disproportionate wealth/infrastructure/advancement spread; to put it allegorically: if there is a "bad part of town" in a turian city, then strong efforts are taken to completely rectify that, including strong efforts by a multitude of normal citizens. Generally speaking, for most other races, a significantly uneven advancement (in infrastructure, economy, whatever) isn't really advancement at all, just one entity taking advantage of another. To them, true progress is across the board, for everyone in their power/authority, because otherwise it's just a zero-sum gain._

_You can turn green with envy now._

* * *

A/N: Also, please don't assume that other races are "boring" or "less interesting." One of the major themes I'm trying to establish is that humanity is just as interested (if not much more so) in aliens than the aliens are interested in humanity, on the whole (not counting people like Wavela, or people with established, dedicated interests in other races). I'm also trying to establish that being more complex and diverse is _not_ better; just ask any engineer whether they'd rather have an overly complex and diverse system or a "simpler" and more rugged system. We may be on par (figuratively speaking) with the asari in terms of art, but our art isn't nearly as appreciated by our own people, financially or culturally. I could go on, but please understand the idea behind it.

I'm still very open to suggestions (I'm planning on using some of them in the coming chapters, even) and ideas, if you want to share them.

And rest assured the "main" story will be the focus for a while, from here on out.


	14. Of Trials and Excitations

**A/N: **Ahoy there. So, long-time, no-see. Though I briefly brought it up in my previous update (if not on this story, than in another one), I probably didn't do a good job of making it clear, so here 'goes:

I've been dealing with a lot of health issues recently, ones that were very non-conducive to writing and editing chapters for either of my main stories. This chapter, in particular, is one that has caused me a lot of grief. On top of a total rewrite, various sections were added or removed for various reasons, and I was hesitant to actually publish it until very recently; it's unpolished, very rough or bare-bones in certain areas, and I was really unsatisfied with certain sections. Then, just when I was ready to make the final push...repetitive overuse syndrome and tendinitis in both hands and wrists, lots of foreign language homework needing to get done by a deadline, and other things.

So this chapter is definitely not my usual (highly relative and developing) standards. To make matters worse, I've just become more and more apathetic (or worse) to ME3, BioWare, and at times the ME 'verse in general. I still have difficulty imagining how that catastrophe in competence, integrity, respect, and loyalty to the fans could have occurred at all, let alone as horribly as it did. Fact is-and really, it is a fact by any logical standards-the entire end-game of ME3 was terrible, lazy, nonsensical, and intellectually appalling and dishonest. The Extended Cut was just the last straw (let alone BW's handling of it); two of the endings (Control and Destroy) became acceptable as vague directions for an ending (despite being entirely founded upon broken, blatantly nonsensical and circular reasoning/plot/premises), Synthesis remained as nonsensically "space magic" as before, except now they had to turn "trampling over the core themes of the series and certain characters" into "that AND having EDI give a ludicrously racist monologue about how synthetic, clearly-sapient forms of life were not and could not be 'alive', and that their existence was not nearly as good/meaningful as organics' lives because they lacked squishy carbon-based tissue and organs." And then the "refusal" ending-something they explicitly and repeatedly said they'd never add, but lied about anyway and did regardless because there was enough outcry about how bad and nonsensical the three original choices were-was just about as bad as it could have been, despite having all the suggestions, obvious facts/problems pointed out in explicit detail regarding the "refusal" dynamic, and months of time to make it. Best part? It made just as much sense as Shepard's lack of ability to refuse the origninal choices and the endings themselves...which is, to say, none. It's like comically missing the blatantly obvious, explicitly and repeteadly called-out point, except nothing about it or the situation was even remotely funny.

Now, if the game had been released with these endings initially, it still would've been bad, but it would have been bad on a level and degree I was at least somewhat prepared for. But it didn't, and so for months the endings were just incomprehensibly bad. It took a while to recnoncile the impossiblity that BioWare (especially its writing team and producers) was actually that incompetent, stupid, forgetful of their own work, and totally lacking in integrity with the fact that the endings/end-game really was that bad (and worse), and the ever-increasing evidence that BioWare was...well, as described above.

So, it's been hard to work up the motivation and desire to care about this story in the past several months, and these health issues really didn't help any. But you guys have been patiently waiting for quite a while, and I'd rather just get something acceptable out than never be satisfied with it for even more months, killing all interest and satisfaction in writing the story. I ask that you recognize that this chapter isn't up to the standards I want, and just enjoy (or dislike; that's perfectly fine too) it for what it is. :)

* * *

**Chapter 14: Of Trials and Excitations**

* * *

"_The problem is, we're going crazy either because we're panicked, we're extremely excited, or we're terrifyingly uncertain. The one thing that no one is, is calm. The paranoid people get set off by everyone else's excitement, and the excited people can't fathom continuing their normal routines when so many interesting, Earth-shaking events are going on daily. The uncertain people look around them and see chaos, yet also jubilation…and are even _more_ uncertain about it all."_

* * *

'Unprecedented' was a word being thrown around a lot these days, President Shelton knew. She was almost sick of the word, by now.

Still, there was something to be said about the American President, British Prime Minister, Russian and Chinese Chief Ambassador, and Canada's Prime Minister all casually chatting on a news program, in person.

Being calm and easygoing was more important than many people realized. Despite the peaceful—friendly, even—first contact, the world was in relative chaos. Religions were in upheaval, politics were thrown aback, and the uncountable billions who paid little attention to global news were suddenly trying to cope with world events that sounded straight out of some conspiracy theory.

Stock prices had been frozen around the world almost overnight, with product prices following shortly after, in order to avoid any disastrous panic. For the most part, it had paid off, with things calming down considerably over time.

Still, it was an extremely tentative calm, and everyone knew it. That made events like tonight all the more important, despite the levity each of the worldly officials presented.

"If they're being honest, as you all believe them to be, then where do you see things going from here?" The host of the show, Cerena Caldwell, was known for her calm professionalism. An excellent choice for the situation, Sheldon thought.

The British leader responded with a loose smile, though Shelton knew he was actually being quite genuine. "As Captain Wavela said, we'll take things slow, and together, we'll figure out how we want to handle things. It makes a lot of sense, really—while blind trust and faith are deeply flawed, unjustified paranoia is too, and every indication we've had paints a clear picture: they're honest people, like us. They're trying to make a new friend, not for exploitation or selfish reasons, but for the sake of friendship and being in the company of trustworthy and kindly others. As a leader of a major nation on Earth, I can very much relate to the value and pleasantness of having friendly nations and peoples on a global scale."

Caldwell nodded with a hint of a smile, but continued with the line of questioning. "Are you concerned, perhaps, that there is more to the galactic situation that they just haven't told us about, yet, and that it may be driving some ulterior motives?"

To Caldwell's surprise, Shelton snorted in a vain attempt to stifle a small chuckle. Seeing that the others were clearly waiting for her to explain, she jumped straight to the point. "I have no doubt of that, but that's true for almost everything, in a way. What matters is how much those ulterior motives and unknown details actually influence the relationship, and whether or not those ulterior motives coincide or contradict our own. In the case of, say, best friends, there may very well be withheld details and ulterior motives, but those motives are likely for the direct benefit of the other friend in a way that the friend wouldn't object to. In other words, this kind of thing happens all the time, even between the best of friends, but it isn't inherently sinister, and it's part of the deep and full trust that best friends correctly have for each other." She may not have been flustered enough to stumble over her words, but Shelton internally berated herself for being overly wordy.

"Indeed," the British prime minister said, continuing her line of reasoning. "They've been very forthcoming thus far, and they don't seem to have withheld the darker parts of their history. They've even explicitly said that there isn't any kind of big dark secret in the galaxy, and even though much of it remains unexplored, the Citadel Federation has a very powerful military dedicated to civic duty and the protection of all beings that wish to peacefully coexist."

"You'll have to forgive me for being a bit skeptical, Prime Minister," Caldwell countered," about that last part. While it may be true, it does also sound a little too good to be true, or perhaps an unfairly idealistic description."

"Is it?" He crossed one of his legs over his other knee, brown eyes gazing intently at the host of their round-table talk. "It's an ideal that many militaries of this planet strive for and one that the UN Peacekeeping Forces are made for. It's easy to extrapolate the trends on Earth towards greater unification and moral, intellectual, and cultural maturity and see how such a military force could come to be."

"Their exploration ship does have two species aboard it without any kind of segregation," Shelton added.

"Three, now," the Chinese ambassador remarked.

* * *

"…_I know I'm far from the only turian that can't wait to get more detail about human history of war and military, and I'm a Hierarchy military strategist—it's my _job_ to be excited about this stuff. The reservers are showing incredible anticipation and excitement, too, and it's easy to see why. Initial reports from first contact teams are that human war history is like a bizarre cross between krogan scale and brutality, turian virtues and skill, and salarian gambiting and technological races of advancement. We haven't been this excited since first contact with the batarians. _

_Only two have received a name thus far—World War 2 and The Cold War. The former is peculiar—a very odd naming convention for any war, but it also clearly implies that there was yet another such war beforehand, and potentially more after the second one. However, this "Cold" war is just plain confusing—what does temperature have to do with it? Regardless, _that_ war is garnering intense interest amongst even diplomatic and social issue groups, because of the basic facts we know about it so far, and their possible relevancy to our society:_

_Two major superpowers vying for supremacy of ideology (not religious ideology, either), maneuvering their way to greater and greater spheres of influence through various means, treating their entire homeworld like a giant game board. _

_Thousands of powerful nuclear warheads on both sides, each aimed at each other from hundreds of inter-continental ballistic missile silos, mobile ballistic missile launchers, _nuclear-powered submarines_, supersonic long-range bombers, and many other platforms (including a _shoulder-fired, non-ballistic-missile nuclear warhead_). A large part of the war was cultural development before technological development reached a critical point, leading to all-out nuclear war and total devastation of the entire planet._

_Numerous proxy wars._

_A vast intertwining of subtle and strong diplomacy and military action that would prevent nuclear war, whilst somehow defeating the other superpower (without inciting a conventional war, or even a small clash of arms). _

_In the end, one superpower collapsed because its economy did…because it bankrupted itself in the ludicrously expensive, many-decades-long arms race with the other superpower, which had a stronger economy. While an arms race of several decades might not seem overly expensive, apparently human arms races are truly something else. The little hints we have to go on thus far have only served to whet appetites. One quote comes to mind: "they started with primitive jet aircraft, armed with only machine guns and the most basic and primitive of transistors, and ended up with hundreds of MIRV ICBM's, their very first space programs (including a "space race", culminating with multiple landings on their sole, large moon), jet aircraft that could utterly decimate their predecessors even when vastly outnumbered, and dozens of nuclear powered submarines that were capable of exceptional stealth, range, and _underwater launching_ of dozens of long-range, nuclear ballistic missiles. They had plans for weapons of absurd levels of destruction, but they never came to fruition due to the abrupt and surprising end to the war, and the sheer lack of necessity of more destructive weapons (even if no retaliatory strike was launched, the damage done would wreck the planet's biosphere…yes, it is as insane as it sounds). _

_World War 2 is even more interesting. We've only received hints so far, but the incomplete picture they paint is still too confusing to do more than basic speculation. However…_

_It was a truly global conflict, featuring every kind of warfare except one: space. The technology to launch anything into space simply didn't exist until near the end of the war, and even then, it was barely capable of doing so. It would lead, with astounding quickness, to impressive space programs, though._

_It was arguably the most important war in human history, with only the Cold War disputing the distinction. _

_It was a war unlike anything else in human history, before or since. _

_It is one of the rare wars in human history where very few believe that it didn't need to be fought. Despite both sides committing horrible acts, one side (the only that ultimately lost) was indisputably immoral and monstrous, and it was extremely aggressive. It even nearly won; only the heroic, desperate, and determined efforts of the rest of the world held the line and turned the tide. _

_The very first nuclear weapons in human history were invented, from scratch, and quickly deployed. Only two were actually used, both within a week of each other. Though very low yield, they were dropped on two cities, killing over 200,000 people, mostly innocent noncombatants (though many significant military targets were destroyed, along with thousands of military personnel). Nuclear weapons have not been used by humans since, outside of testing. The incredible thing is that their usage was arguably justified, and as shocking as it might seem, as what we've heard so far indicates that their usage likely saved many more lives than they ended. More horrifically, many more people were killed by conventional bombing raids in that time period than by nuclear weapons. That fact is astounding—it might give a clear picture of the scope and severity of this conflict._

_In many cases, it was total war—even the morally superior side resorted to massive bombing raids against enemy cities, just to do damage to the other side, especially because they lacked the technology for reliably precise bombing._

_It united most of the world, in one way or another, like nothing else had before, in completely new ways. Millions of people from all over the world were interacting with each other for the first time, finding much in common and taking great interest in the differences, despite the misgivings they might have had. According to the reports coming in, this war changed the cultures of the world so dramatically that it shifted the general human perception from viewing their world in terms of individual countries into terms of an entire interconnected planet. _

_It was the first war in human history to be extensively documented in visual, audio, personal written accounts, and video, and in turn seen by the publics at large—either through visual recordings or the widespread, cataclysmic effects of this global war upon their homes and countries. _

_From a military standpoint, I've read some incredible things. Little of it is confirmed yet, so count this as rumor and speculation. But if even half of it is true, then I couldn't possibly be disappointed. Here we go:_

_There were three major theaters of the war. The first is the Earth continent of "Europe". It was mostly ground-based fighting, but it featured massive battles in the air, intense and bloody urban fighting, huge battles between thousands of armored vehicles and artillery guns, and at least one _colossal_ amphibious assault. That last one seems to be most likely a major exaggeration or rumor, especially since one rumor about it claims that nearly 7000 ships were involved, and at least 250,000 infantry. Needless to say, I can't imagine there ever being a need for an amphibious operation that large, nor can I fathom how such an operation could be at all practical. _

_The second major theater was "The Mediterranean"—mainly large infantry and armored vehicle battles in a large stretch of desert, full of mountainous terrain and littered with the occasional city. Apparently this one is characterized as rapid strategy gambits and relatively "clean" warfare. _

_The last major theater is the most fantastical and bizarre: the "Pacific". If that massive amphibious operation seemed like an exaggeration, then this will seem like outright mythology. Two absurdly large sea-going navies repeatedly engaged each other—their fleets had everything from submarines and gunboats to large dreadnoughts and something called "carriers". Apparently, "carriers" are capital ships that are essentially mobile airbases for fighters and small bomber craft, and they dominated the naval war and continue to do so today, on Earth. I'm not sure how a capital ship could be effective with small aircraft as its only major armament or defense, but I hope we get to find out soon. On top of the naval warfare, there were dozens of amphibious assaults, including one on a strategically important, yet tiny and barren island where many thousands of people died—the only description of the battle that we currently have is "a bloodbath where an unstoppable force met and immovable object." One naval battle we've heard a little about is a huge mismatch, where a handful of armorless frigates (or their human equivalent), whose main armament would literally bounce off the hulls of the enemy ships, charged the most powerful battle-group of heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts in the world, and against all odds managed to confuse and fluster the enemy into retreating. Lastly, the losing side, due to refusing to surrender or retreat, received endless bombings, until two almost-simultaneously deployed nuclear bombs convinced that side to finally surrender, ending this "World War 2". _

_And the opening battles of the war? Two superpowers jointly invaded a country in-between them from both sides, provoking a declaration of war from some other superpower nations. Poland, the name of this hopelessly outmatched country, put up an admirable fight and an effective underground resistance after their country's official defeat. One battle placed 700 [/sic: Polish] soldiers in a handful of pillboxes against a mechanized army (complete with armored vehicles and more advanced small arms) that outnumbered them by a ratio of _fifty-nine to one_. Yes, over 42,000 better-equipped soldiers with armored vehicles against 700 soldiers in some rudimentary bunkers. The 700 held out for _three days_, buying other [/sic: Polish] armies critical time (and inflicting over 1000 casualties and 10 armored vehicle kills)._

_If that sounds like a mythical, heroic mismatch for a species that has barely ventured into space, just wait until you learn about their naval battles. The good news? A significant amount of video footage of varying (though poor at best) quality exists, but the countless verified accounts of these events and the intense interest in them by humanity at large means that hours upon hours of live-action dramatizations, computer-generated recreations, and fictional works in the setting exist. _

_Needless to say, we seem to finally have an answer to a centuries-long question: are large sea-going naval battles inherently unlikely and impractical, or is it mere chance that the right species in the right circumstances just hasn't come along yet? I was able to ask the most knowledgeable personnel at the Citadel Embassy on Earth (though that isn't saying much, as they don't yet know that much more than we do) for their understandings on the subject, and the answers were intriguing. Humanity is biologically adept in the water for a non-aquatic species. Earth's geography gives control of the seas a large importance in both war and economy, and Earth's surface is between 2/3rds and 3/4ths water; in fact, the two major supercontinents of Earth are completely separated from each other by vast oceans, which means that humanity is the first non-theoretical example of a sapient species that developed into modern times as two completely separated peoples. Humanity has also had a great deal of war, though it is apparently highly inconsistent in terms of degree, scale, frequency, and nature; however, human wars have been steadily decreasing in scale, frequency, and severity in the past several decades. Lastly, humanity seems to have very strong ties to Earth's seas and operating in them. Humanity has fought naval battles since its ancient history, too. And I mean _ancient_. Many of their early naval battles involved ships _ramming each other_ to deal critical damage, followed by massive boarding operations to physically kill the crew. They were propelled almost entirely by at least a dozen rowers using long oars, and they used a person playing a steady, loud beat on a large drum in order to provide synchronization for the rowers. Humanity has a widely-known term related to ships because of this: "ramming speed". In those ancient times, "ramming speed" was _an actual, standard practice_ that involved the drummer steadily increasing the tempo of the beat to signal faster, harder rowing—for an imminent ramming. These ships were largely open-air, so yes, everyone nearby could hear it. I could be wrong, but I imagine this is about as absurdly awesome as it sounds (well, for species that don't struggle to stay afloat for more than 30 seconds in water, anyway)._

_I did also get one interesting bit of trivia: humanity has built the largest sea-going, surface-operating vessels in the galaxy—though the hanar have built bigger sea-going ships, they are all submarines that are incapable of surfacing more than a third of their volume. As best as Citadel Embassy on Earth can tell, humanity's biggest challenge for developing a steady shipbuilding industry for space-going vessels is not scale, but training the needed specialists and workers to operate safely and efficiently in space. The most popular proposal at the moment is for the Council to provide a space station and shipyard for both humans and nonhumans to operate on and utilize, so that we don't have to wait until humanity is capable of building those facilities by themselves (even with our advising and technological aid). _

* * *

"I wish we brought formal wear for something like this," Wavela remarked, examining her uniform's pragmatic design. Asari uniforms were known for function over form, regardless of type, but first contact scenarios lacked the level of mutual understanding to mitigate any potential problems.

"Stop worrying," Kate said out of the corner of her mouth, her half-smirk going unnoticed by her new friend. "You look fine. People would notice you constantly checking your appearance a lot more."

Finally settling her head into a normal orientation, Wavela looked to Kate for reassurance, catching the half-smirk turn into a full, warm smile.

"It's not like we look any dressier for the occasion," Keigo muttered, his tell-tale, lop-sided grin revealing his amusement. "Can't say I'm complaining about not having to wear a suit or dress uniform, though."

Wavela glanced back towards Morlon, who had gradually become more comfortable in the unintelligible (for him, anyway) environment. "Exactly _how_ extensive are their video signals and transmissions, Morlon?" she asked in Galactic, looking forward to the day when half-decent translation software could be put to use.

She'd known him long enough to recognize his completely deadpan expression as half-incredulous, half-calm. "Completely global. Vast amounts of data. Lower quality video and audio than our standards, of course, but roughly similar in terms of scale."

_Wonderful._

The landing ramp lowered, gradually expanding from a long crack in an otherwise-flush hull to a grand entrance.

The first thing she noticed was the color—the sky was a bright, vibrant blue (in contrast with the purple of Thessia and greenish-yellow of Palaven), with dark- and light-green plant-life everywhere (some of which sprouted from tall, brown stalks of some kind), all directly contrasted by grays, beiges, and whites of clearly artificial construction.

The second thing was the plethora of odd clicking noises coming from the black devices in the hands of dozens of the humans waiting for them. She guessed they were taking pictures, as video capture would be disrupted by the chaotic audio of the clicking, though there may have been other recording devices in use that she wasn't aware of, she supposed.

That was quickly followed by mass applause—something she'd been told to expect. Even though she'd heard its rough equivalents in indie music, this was something entirely different. It was loud and irregular, but consistent enough to count as background noise. An odd show of appreciation if she ever heard one, but still quite a welcome one.

She raised her arm and waved, as John had taught her, which spurred a slight increase in applause.

_I can start to see the appeal._

"Welcome to Earth," Kate said, beaming. Wavela turned to return the smile, which she briefly felt was more for her than for the cameras.

"And mind the gap," John added as he started to walk down the ramp. The rest of them followed, though the asari was still trying to work out his meaning.

Waiting for them, at the bottom of the ramp, were several people that stood out from the various officials within fifty meters of the landing zone. Not just in terms of how they appeared or carried themselves, but in terms of how others regarded them.

"Madame President," John began, oddly comfortable with a casual approach to the proceedings. His tone was almost playful, and his body language loose. "I hope we haven't been making things _too_ crazy for you."

She shook his offered hand, snorting through her grin. "Not at all; there's nothing quite like First Contact to shake up the utter endlessness and frustration of budget meetings."

"Exactly!" Keigo strode right into their presence as nonchalantly as he strode into their conversation. "That's why you should become an astronaut instead of President. _Our_ stressful scenarios involve shooting into the stars on a giant rocket, so at least we get to have fun."

Caught between 'amused' and 'annoyed,' John's smile turned into some kind of bastard cross between a smirk and a grimace. Keigo, satisfied by such a tell-tale sign that his antics were well-received, doubled down.

"Hell, we're back so early that I think we ought to get paid leave for the time difference," he said with an unabashed grin, resting an elbow on John's shoulder while extending a hand to the president. "It's an honor, Madame President."

Accepting the handshake, she turned to John, an eyebrow quirked and, unwittingly, the same half-grimace-half-smirk plastered on her face. "Is he _always_ like this?"

John met her gaze with seriousness, answering immediately. "_Yes._"

"And you love me for it," Keigo added. Something must have caught his attention, as he suddenly stared behind her, his goofy smirk quickly transforming into a warm smile. "…as do they…"

People never stopped joking at how, of the three of them, Keigo was the only one in a relationship of any kind, let alone married with kids. Fellow space aficionados, at least, were much more understanding of how difficult it was to be romantic while married to the job.

John lightly chuckled at the surprisingly deep kiss Keigo and his wife indulged in before he swept his kids up in his arms. They'd been prepared for 100 days of separation, with little time together beforehand; arriving back several weeks early must have been a hell of a pleasant surprise.

Wavela, Morlon, and Kate followed behind at a much slower pace, taking everything in gradually. Kate's cheerful explanations probably helped to offset the press horde in the distance, now that he thought about it. Seeing everyone else preoccupied, he took up the more formal diplomatic duties of handshakes and brief small talk, hoping to keep the politics to a minimum.

Wavela reached the Russian president first, exchanging a warm handshake and smile. Knowing that the asari diplomat only knew English at this time, he put his trilingual skills to good use. "Welcome to Earth, Captain Wavela. It is an honor to meet you."

"Thank you," she replied, noting his significantly different accent. "It is a great honor to meet you as well, and to be here."

Though they were all formalities, diplomatic niceties, and a grand show for the media, the sentiments and smiles were actually genuine. Anyone could see why: peaceful and friendly first contact was always a historic and incredible event, and being among the first to meet members of an entirely new race meant actively being a part of the first step towards a potentially close relationship between species.

For anyone even remotely interested in other cultures and peoples, an experience like this was too fascinating to ignore…and she was an open xenophile, like most of her crew. The experience had thus far been vastly more informal than she imagined any first contact scenario to go, and she was eager to see how much of that was due to circumstance, and how much to culture.

* * *

_Citadel Security Brief, UD-8301-IL2_

_Field: Weapon R&D, Related Tactics, Shift in small arms paradigm (Priority: Blue 1)_

_Subject: Human small-arms design, and its potential adaptability and effectiveness with current levels of technology_

_ENCRYPTION CODE: Uliost_

_WARNING: DISTRIBUTION, LEAKING, UNAUTHORIZED RELEASE, OR BREACH IN CONFIDENTIALITY THROUGH NEGLIGENCE IS PUNISHABLE BY REPRIMAND CLASSIFICATION WETAOR-5 UNDER CITADEL SECURITY-INTELLIGENCE ACT 7305-1-S.29_

_/begin-file_

_As you are no doubt aware, the attack on the human and Council diplomats on the Citadel has thrown the current political landscape into relative chaos for the moment. I can't confirm this, but war, or at least strong military action against the Hegemony seems probable. Time is thus of the essence, for new information and insights have come to light from that same attack._

_Humanity may not be near our level of technology, and they may not be very close to their own species' unification yet, but they seem to have a knack for weapon design. In terms of performance, their weapons are clearly vastly inferior to even our standard issue, but they still have many aspects that may prove applicable and effective when recreated with our own technologies, and refined through our design._

_The first of these is that their assault rifles, like ours, feature a secondary armament function. While the venerable and effective Lance and Talon systems will undoubtedly remain in use for centuries to come, it seems that we overlooked some useful ideas. Bear with the redundancy, please, for it will help convey the point made soon after: the Lance and Talon systems are integrated into the assault rifle, and provide a single, powerful, and accurate shot before overheating or a brief period of double the rate of fire (via a second barrel and smaller, secondary heat sink) before a lengthy cooldown period, respectively. While offering dramatic versatility and efficiency for a single rifle, they are more like slight variations of the existing, primary function of the rifle. The assault rifles the human special forces used during the attack utilize an entirely different philosophy._

_Their primary fire is a select-fire-mode, 60-round detachable magazine, self-cycling form of chemically-propelled metal projectiles. They feature excellent accuracy via round design and passive spin-inducing systems on the inside of the barrel (called "rifling", amusingly; that feature is what classifies a weapon as a rifle in the first place for them), better accuracy than the standard rounds of our own standard issue assault rifles (sans Lance system), though our high volume of fire negates that advantage in most cases. While the magazines are surprisingly compact for their capacity (each of their rounds, complete with the chemical propellant sections, are around the size of an asari's smallest finger), this means that running out of ammunition is a major problem, even when many magazines are carried with the soldier. _

_The secondary armament, however, is our primary interest. It is a semi-automatic, self-cycling, "rifled" grenade launcher, and each grenade can be quickly set to detonate at a specific range, with an integrated laser-range-finder making the process very quick and intuitive. Alternatively, they can be set to detonate on impact. The grenade launcher features a detachable box-magazine, which can be quickly reloaded; however, ammunition remains a major problem, as the human soldiers ran out of that ammunition relatively quickly, even with excellent efficiency in their usage. _

_Our technology can mitigate that issue somewhat (our people are working on the issue; developments will be forwarded when ready), but their tactical value is more than worth the limitation. Despite wielding weapons that were vastly inferior to our own in terms of technology, this armament system allowed the human soldiers to quickly best dozens of armored and shielded foes—even when said foes used cover correctly—and were only overwhelmed when their ammunition was expended. The usage of cover was countered by quick usage of these grenade launchers to airburst just past the cover, decimating the targets behind it. While some of this effectiveness must be attributed to the skill and experience of the soldiers using them, it is clear that the potential and capability is very real and significant._

_Further, the launcher can easily use multiple different kinds of grenade types without any modification. One such grenade delivered a _liquid_ payload that quickly downed a _krogan_ (one who was equipped with full armor and shields, no less) in a single shot. We're still reviewing the footage, but it appears to be some kind of extremely potent incendiary weapon; where it didn't melt the target with horrifying speed, it actively burned it with hungry flames. What we do know about the weapon so far is this: it is a state-of-the-art incendiary weapon that is normally illegal (on Earth) to use against living targets—the human soldiers were carrying them in case they encountered armored or sufficiently durable opposition, and had too little in the way of ammunition to be choosey. Given the blast pattern seen in the footage, it is likely that such grenades only work in direct-fire mode, as the payload could only travel in a relatively tight cone in front of the grenade. _

_The human assault rifles are also partially modular. Most of the barrel section of the weapon is covered in some kind of material configuration that allows quick, sturdy attachment of any devices that have the same material configuration. This allows one of their weapons to be quickly and easily equipped with a vast variety of attachments, depending on the mission and personal preference. The ones seen thus far are a high powered flashlight, some kind of targeting laser, various kinds of electronic sights and scopes (in some cases, bizarrely, _both_ at the same time), a nonlethal electrical weapon, some kind of block device of unknown function (potentially a battery), various kinds of grips (many of them even attach to the bottom of the grenade launcher, which also features this material attachment configuration on its surfaces), and the grenade launchers themselves. _

_At one point, the human soldiers fixed blades onto the ends of their rifles, adjacent to the barrel. They were used successfully in particularly close range combat—given that carrying a small blade is standard for turian infantry, we could adapt this for our own use with minimal effort. While it may seem totally unnecessary for C-Sec purposes, note that _we_ could instead mount a small taser device instead, which would undoubtedly be useful. Their alternative approach to modular design could prove economically and tactically useful; the costs for developing and purchasing new add-ons would dramatically decrease, and the flexibility and versatility such a dynamic offers might be worth the extra space it would take up._

_Additionally, an idea has started gaining ground lately: utilizing the well-designed detachable-magazine setup to quickly replace heat sinks. Obviously, these heat sinks would be of similar quality to current ones—not functionally un-reusable in combat like the human magazines (which is not their fault; it is merely a necessary reality of the general technology level); assuming automatic cycling of two or more high-quality heat sinks is impractical to build into the weapon (or as an attachment), we could simply make do with manually removing capacitated heat sinks and quickly replacing them with cold ones, while sticking the capacitated ones in some kind of pouch to cool off for a minute. _

_This is where further human input has proved interesting. At the behest of several diplomatic and military officials, we have just begun collaboration with human firearm designers on high-concept brainstorming for state-of-the-art small-arms design. While potential security breaches and the dangers of younger races prematurely acquiring modern weapons technologies normally complicates such a setup, the unique circumstances have rendered those concerns amusingly moot: their technology level is nowhere near advanced enough to reproduce anything of significance, and they don't have extranet access—literally—to leak anything _to_, intentionally or otherwise. Preliminary reports say that the human experts involved in the project are enthusiastic about the opportunity for the intellectual challenge, cultural experiences (being among the earliest humans to visit the Citadel), and the novel experience of working with highly advanced technology. Security briefs provide further reassurance; even if we doubted them to adhere to the conditions of coming to work on the project, they are literally without any means to create a security concern in the first place. _

_The project, currently dubbed _BETAC_, has yielded interesting results already. One idea has even received approval for initial testing: a system to rapidly cool capacitated heat sinks by flash-transferring the heat into a high-heat-capacity (HHC) liquid that is vented just as it reaches boiling point. The end result is that the supply limitation of small arms in combat is not the number of expendable heat sinks or overabundance of waste heat, but coolant liquid. Given that this liquid would have a very high heat capacity, it wouldn't be a combat hazard unless significantly toxic. The liquid would also be much easier to carry on both a tactical and logistical level, and would be completely universal with all weapons capable of using the liquid coolant system. By maintaining the current entirely-reusable heat sink technology in those designs, the coolant liquid could be reserved for use when necessary, even for the duration of entire deployments. _

_Further developments will be forwarded in due time. I am, however, authorized to report that a similar project is being conducted for the purpose of strategic and tactical level innovation in naval warfare. A fresh perspective and new ideas can be quite useful, but the main reason is that Head Diplomat Wavela claims that humanity has extensive experience with ocean-based naval warfare. If true, it would be the first case yet encountered and a treasure trove for military, cultural, engineering, and historical theorists. Developments in _that_ project are likely to remain classified at a high level, so don't expect reports on it anytime soon, unless any potential war sees a quick and thorough conclusion, of course. _

* * *

**A/N: **I apologize for any potential innaccuracies. I hope it's acceptable to just chalk it up to the alien writers just not having all the facts straight (or available, as is the case).

Please let me know what you think-at the moment this story is very much in flux; I'm not sure what direction I want to go with it, or if I'll really be able to continue writing it at all. So, please leave feedback, don't pull any punches, and if you or someone you know wishes to adopt this story (or make your own spinoff of some kind), feel free to let me know. Same goes for one of my other stories, Adrift in a Sea of Stars (for some different reasons).

I'm not quite sure how much writing I'll be doing in the near future, or for what stories; it could be a lot, it could be highly sporatic. I've been very interested in the Freespace IP (Intellectual Property; basically the FS 'Verse) recently, and if you think you might be interested in some fiction in that setting (including the continuity of the awesomely high-quality mod trilogy, Blue Planet), please let me know. And if you have no idea what any of that is, here is my challenge to you: go to Youtube, type in "blue planet age of aquarius intro" in the search box, watch it, and then do the same for "blue planet war in heaven intro", and let me know if you're interested in that stuff in any way; it's pretty accessible stuff to get into, even just to watch and read, and playing it (and much more) yourself costs no more than six dollars (and your computer can probably run it just fine).

Until next time!


	15. Shooting Stars

**A/N:** Okay, several important things to note before delving into this chapter.

First, I know that I've been skimping on real, present-time story lately. The truth is that I've had a lot of trouble with that kind of writing recently, and I felt it better to get something decent out rather than delay this for a long while 'till I sort things out. Next chapter is planned to be mainly present-time story.

Second, I apologize if this chapter rubs you the wrong way in terms of what's said about human psychology/nature/culture/society; honestly I'm unsure about it myself, but I just don't have a way to get enough alternate opinions in a reasonable amount of time. In my experience with FF, it's usually better to get something decent out relatively regularly than hold yourself to a very high standard and not get around to updating in years. So consider this a no-other-choice trial by fire, and hopefully I'll at least learn what I need to for future chapters. That said, if anyone would like to help me out as a story- and character-level beta/editor, please send me a message!

Third, I mentioned previously in this story how humanity had the odd distinction of being the only known species thus far to consistently have major (surface-level) naval warfare. This isn't really case of humanity being special any more than turians having a thin, metallic layer to their skin-there are many reasons why this quirk is the way it is, and it's not 'humanity is better', just a result of many circumstances that simply weren't there for other known species.

Fourth, this chapter is a little...odd, time-wise. The exact time it takes place is kind of subject to change-it's sloppy and poor planning on my part, I know, but it's very important for me to regularly accomplish 'something' rather than 'nothing'.

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 15: Shooting Stars**

_"We have met the enemy, and he is us."_

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…_you want me to be completely candid?_

_**Yes, if it is okay with you.**_

_Well, I guess you're in luck. My fellow human first contact representatives—my friends, as I am now happy to say—told me to be honest about them, and while I'm not sure if that counts as official permission, I will try to honor the essence of that request. _

_**It has been less than four weeks since first contact, and you're already friends? That's rather fascinating.**_

_[Laughs.] Yes, it does seem rather unexpected in hindsight, but I think it makes sense in context. They weren't just any three humans; they were fellow explorers, scientists, open-minded learners of the strange, new, and unknown. We probably would have quickly become friends whether they were turian, asari, or elcor. _

_**I see…interesting. Would you say that those traits are notably uncommon in the rest of the human population, or just a case of serendipity?**_

_I've met far too few humans to even guess about that. However, as far as serendipity goes…perhaps. They were on a mission of exploration—the furthest and most daring manned mission in their history. No other type of person would have been assigned to such a mission, so all that was needed was for us to arrive while their mission was still in progress, and to detect them. _

_**Now, this question has been suggested—even begged for [laughs]—by millions, and from the look on your face, I'd say you know exactly what that question is.**_

_[Laughs] Yes, I believe I do. It's funny, because aboard the ESV__Sailara first heard the literal first-contact words without any kind of translation. We had no idea what they were saying, but they were clearly talking to us in some way, so we replied back with standard, friendly greetings. It wasn't until we met up on the surface of Mars—the closest planet to Earth—that I was able to initiate a learning-meld and achieve understanding. When I heard the messages again…_

_**You were shocked?**_

_I felt too many things at once to remember it clearly. I was definitely laughing quite a bit, and I remember feeling surprise, minor disbelief, and amusement as well. Of course, to make matters even more ridiculous, I was still the only one, at the time, who had any idea what the messages meant, or how to understand their language. _

_**[Laughs] So, Captain Wavela, what was your first impression of those three? **_

_Well, while I felt the same kind of fear, caution, and nervousness that any person in a first contact scenario feels, I was also very excited and intrigued. They were the ones that actually initiated first contact, both in space and on the planet surface. They were clearly aware of the difficulties and unknowns of in-person first contact, and seemed prepared for it. I think the fact that we were both explorers and scientists helped a great deal—our thoughts were already on a remarkably similar path, so establishing the basics of understanding was surprisingly easy. And as soon as I could actually understand and communicate with their language…_

_**It was overwhelming?**_

_Not quite…it just…felt incredible. Not physically, but intellectually—I had just gotten a rough understanding of an entire, new alien language, with all of the cultural, historical, psychological, and sociological ties to it. And now, these three people that represented first contact with a completely new alien race—I could understand them, and they could understand me. It wasn't just first contact between two species; it was humanity's first contact with _any_ kind of life outside their homeworld. You can't imagine how significant this was for them—like all species, they had thought about the prospect of alien life, of sapient alien life, and they were intrigued by it, like everyone else, yes. But…historically, culturally, philosophically, it was like having a critical question about the universe, about existence, one in which the answers are both potentially unfathomably diverse and completely unknown, fully answered for the first time. _

_In general, they expected that alien life was a statistical certainty, but they never had enough direct evidence to prove even that notion beyond any doubt. And if there _was_ sapient alien life, they wondered, would they be so utterly different from humanity that mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence was impossible? Was their basic cognition so alien that they couldn't even think the same kind of way?_

_**And then you came along.**_

_Exactly. Once we were on the same page—sorry, human expression—once we had achieved a basic mutual understanding, they were quite pleased and excited. Later, when we had a relatively complete mutual understanding of each other on a high-political level (meaning that we got the gist of each other's intentions and identities), they became very…open and almost giddy. Before that, on top of their happiness, curiosity, and fascination about the situation, they were also blatantly nervous, wary, and even scared. And all of their feelings and expressions were genuine—they were just simultaneously excited and curious about us and terrified about the possibility that something would go wrong, or that our intentions would not be truly friendly. _

_**They were both curious and suspicious?**_

_Yes, but…well, no._

_**[Laughs]**_

_Sorry! Not very articulate of me, yes. What I meant is that they were indeed very curious, but "suspicious" isn't quite the right word for the other side of their feelings. I think "scared" or "worried" would be more accurate. And that's completely understandable for any first contact situation, let alone a species' first contact with any kind of alien life. _

_**Backing up a bit; you mentioned something about the cultural and psychological ties to their language. Could you elaborate on that?**_

_Yes, of course. I suppose I should start off by saying that I only learned _one_ of their languages. It's perhaps one of their more prevalent ones, but far from the only one, which is of course typical. What _isn't_ typical, however, is that they have at least a dozen languages that are primary—as in, a language that is the foremost-spoken or effectively official language of a major group—despite having reached a more-than-sufficient level of globalization and understanding of language to establish an artificial, common language. _

_**They don't have any artificial languages?**_

_Oh, they have a few—one of which has at least meager recognition—but most of those are, fittingly enough, languages that are for fictional peoples in an in-universe setting. _

_**Wait—so they have very little in the way of artificial languages for actual use, but they have some for entirely fictional entities, for no useful purpose?**_

_[Chuckles] I think you'll find that typical of humanity, Yriholatyl. _

_**Really? Okay, now **_**I'm**_** confused. How is that typical of them?**_

_Humanity, as a whole, has a tendency to not make much sense. The reasons for that are…complicated. I suppose you could say that they are bizarrely irrational, but not all of the time, in every way, or in a bad sense. The same irrationality that impedes the creation of a common artificial language fuels the drive, tenacity, and perhaps insanity required to go from a brief trip to the edge of lower orbit to a full-fledged expedition of their single, large moon's surface in less than ten years. _

_**But the salarians did that in twenty years, didn't they? Are you saying that salarians are only half as insane as humans?**_

_[Both laugh] No, no. It's not really the amount of time it took, but how they got there. It would be like a turian who barely has any concept of treading water jumping head-first into a ten-meter dive into an ocean. At night. _

_It wasn't that they accomplished it, it that they even seriously tried in the first place. Rather than master each subsequent step while learning the next one, they'd try for several new steps each time, often without having performed the previous few steps more than once. _

_**Wouldn't that be incredibly dangerous? And expensive?**_

_It was. Sometimes, they had to just guess and predict at what the next dozen steps would be like, what would be required, what could go wrong, and what they needed to be prepared for. They weren't just running before mastering walking, they were sprinting while trying to predict what jumping would be like._

_The consequences, of course, were huge, but in both good and bad ways. Dozens of lives were lost to various causes related to the endeavor, and the financial costs were staggering. The only way a world of their technology and science levels could fund and succeed in such a goal is—short of it being absolutely needed as soon as possible to prevent a grave threat to their entire race—by having two superpowers racing each other to the finish line in a peaceful manner, while still viewing the goal—and the rapid-as-possible completion of it—as paramount. _

_To my knowledge, it was the result of a plethora of incredible circumstances that this situation even came about in the first place. One of the most critical, however, was the irrational drive and tenacity in the face of a nearly unfathomably difficult task and an absurdly short deadline. So, as I said, it wasn't the time the achievement took that is notable, but the manner in which it was done. _

_And the results of that are pretty telling, actually. Humanity followed that impossible mission up with six such missions, each more ambitious than the last, and then…cut funding and enthusiasm for their space programs. Because going to their moon was no longer that special, and building a thousand long-range nuclear ballistic missiles on top of a stockpile of several thousand such missiles was far more important to fund. So they took great risks and incredible feats to accomplish an incredibly significant and impactful goal, and then reverted back to a greater focus on absurdly large stockpiles of nuclear warheads and building up and mastering the earlier steps of space exploration. Unlike the salarians—and indeed, most comparable races—who gradually reached successively more difficult steps of space travel while taking the time to master each previous step, humanity threw pragmatism, reason, economics, and patience aside when reaching for an impossible goal, succeeded spectacularly against all odds, and then cut back on funding and interest in space exploration and spent much longer periods of time mastering the same steps they'd already rapidly (if barely adequately) surpassed previously._

_**Massive nuclear weapon stockpiles? Long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads? That sounds like a repeat of Tuchanka.**_

_[Laughs] That's what I thought of, too, at first. I've since learned that the outcome was very different because the causes of and reasons for the situation's existence were totally different than Tuchanka. _

_**How so?**_

_Nuclear weapons, from the very beginning of their invention in human history, were viewed as weapons of such sheer power that their use was practically a tragedy in itself. In a way, the prevailing view was that if a situation truly warranted the use of such weapons, then the situation was already horrifically bad. Humanity has only ever used nuclear weapons, outside of testing, twice; both cases were within a very short time of each other. Their use was intended to be, perhaps ironically, the most peaceful and pacifistic option available. _

_**I'm—how is that—that does not make any sense!**_

_You could say that about a lot of things on humanity, but in this case it actually does make sense. The reasoning isn't the disturbing part: the circumstances are. It is a very, very long story, but the gist of it is that a nation with a fanatical, militaristic culture would not surrender or abandon the main tenets of their culture and governmental system, despite being utterly certain of their own inevitable defeat and the horrific consequences of forcing most citizens into a fanatical last stand. Even when assured of merciful and benevolent treatment of their people should they surrender, their leadership and culture was divided over the ultimatum. _

_Conservative estimates for an invasion plan by allied forces predicted millions of casualties on both sides, as well as near-total destruction of the infrastructure and cities of Japan, despite near-total dominance of the seas and skies with massive amounts of assets and firepower available, superior technology and weaponry, better-trained and equipped soldiers, and the ability to attack from any direction. _

_**So the estimates were distorted, or inaccurate? **_

_No. Though their full accuracy is still disputed, the reasoning and estimates were based on somewhat similar circumstances and situations from other battles in the war. An invasion of Japan would result in colossal casualties for both sides, incredible levels of destruction, and a daunting [sic: humanitarian] crisis and tragedy that would hit civilians on an unacceptable scale. _

_In the end, the core controversies of deploying nuclear weapons were irrelevant. Massive aerial bombardment had already been underway for a while; entire cities had been reduced to rubble and ashes, and still Japan would not surrender, even to reasonable and merciful terms. When faced with such fanaticism—and the very real threat of massive casualties on both sides, including civilians—nuclear weapons were unique and potent in the sense that even fanaticism would be rendered irrelevant and subdued by the reality of the situation. Nuclear weapons were powerful and deadly in a way that massive aerial bombardment never could be, metaphorically or physically, and the main result—a destroyed city—was very similar. With nuclear weapons, delusions of a grand last stand were shattered; no ground forces would ever have to set foot on Japan, and the enemy could completely obliterate an entire city or equivalent area with a single bomb, a type of bomb that could be affordably produced on a regular basis. _

_**Their leadership was that pointlessly…insane? Delusional?**_

_I can't say. I don't know nearly enough on the subject. _

_**So they went from using nuclear weapons as a last resort, as a way to ultimately save hundreds of thousands of lives, to building pointlessly large stockpiles of nuclear ballistic missiles? **_

_Yes, but in a bizarre way it is actually a logical progression. The numbers and scale changed, but the reasoning did not. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent, a way to maintain general peace between major powers by maintaining a dynamic of mutually assured destruction—if a war between nations escalated to the use of nuclear weapons, the resulting exchange of destruction would inevitably and undoubtedly destroy both sides. That dynamic ended when one of the two major powers collapsed politically and economically as a result of its own priorities, laws, and systems. The remaining side never used, threatened to use, or implied the threat of using nuclear weapons for political self-interest. Because they were only ever useful, needed, or desired for as anything more than a largely-defensive deterrent._

_That was probably helped by the fact that World War 2—the human war in question—was the largest, most meaningful, and most destructive in human history, and it ended with the first (and unexpected) use of nuclear weapons, along with the sobering consequences and the horrific circumstances which would be needed to justify them that came along with it. _

_**Fascinating…however, you mentioned before how humanity, as a whole, has been rather irrational and unpredictable. Now, though, you're explaining how humanity's rationality saved them from self-destruction where the krogan's lack of rationality doomed them. **_

_It would be absurd to think of humans, either individually or collectively, as always irrational, all the time, wouldn't it? They can be perfectly rational, and often have been. Just in terms of averages, you could pose that kind of assertion, but if I've learned anything about humanity, it's that they tend to act highly predictably in the most unpredictable of ways. _

_**I…I'm having some trouble understanding that last bit.**_

_It's something you need to experience for yourself, really. When you do understand it, it will be refreshingly clear._

_**So you can understand and predict them like anyone else, as long as you get to know them a bit first?**_

_Well…yes and no. Sorry, another human phrase. Though I suppose it helps demonstrate the point. If I had to put it into words…I suppose it's like a complicated math problem. When first seeing that particular problem, I'm utterly baffled and not following its progression of logic at all. But when I am told the answer, suddenly it all seems so obvious, even though the progression of logic is still absurd—the logic is still correct, though, just crazy. _

_**So they're crazy, sometimes irrational, but not insane?**_

_No, nothing that simple or universal. Let's just say that, in general, the same human can be capable of utter brilliance and astounding irrationality, and mastering the self-awareness of both, for humans, is both incredibly difficult and extremely rewarding. _

_To give you an idea, they understood general relativity decades before they sent anything into space. They invented several types of nuclear warheads before they invented even the most basic of transistor. They broke the sound barrier by replacing a fighter's engines with rockets and hoping it wouldn't break apart when it reached a high enough speed. They call computer and programming glitches 'bugs'—care to guess why?_

_**I…because…they're potentially problematic?**_

_Because their early computers used large vacuum tubes and were the size of a large room. A good number of the problems stemmed from actual bugs being present inside the vacuum tubes. The term stuck._

_**O…Okay. I suppose that makes sense.**_

_Their typical reaction to something very stupid or ridiculous is to inflict themselves with varying degrees of blunt trauma to their heads. Often with their hands._

_**But…wouldn't that…?**_

_In extreme cases, they'll bang their heads into their desks, or a nearby wall. Repeatedly._

_**I don't understand.**_

_From my limited understanding, the action actually causes mild painkiller chemicals to be secreted, so it may just be a way of forcing painkillers directly into one's head, in the face of serious mental pain, likely from experiencing a strong level of exasperation. _

_**So, if they have a tendency for irrational behavior…**_

_Indeed._

_**Huh.**_

_It's actually quite endearing. I haven't yet figured out why, though. My best guess at the moment is that it's very funny to see. _

_**Okay…so, to bring us back to the original question [both laugh], what exactly about their language—or at least the one you learned—fascinated you?**_

_It is unwieldy, inefficient, inconsistent, and vague, and yet it is simultaneously flexible, malleable, diverse, poetic, and full of potential. Don't ask me how it achieves that—I'm still trying to figure it out myself._

_**[Chuckles]**__**Can you give us an example, perhaps?**_

_A number of their basic, utility words are pronounced exactly the same way, often used in somewhat similar contexts, but are spelled very differently and mean quite different things about a similar concept. The grammatical structure and general syntax is extremely flexible when used creatively or informally, but somewhat strict when used professionally or formally. Grammatically, it is often impossible to tell if a given word that you're not familiar with is an adjective, a verb, a noun, an adverb, etcetera, or potentially _all of them.

_**Sounds like a nightmare for someone trying to learn it without being skilled at learning-melds. **_

_Relatively speaking, yes, but it is surprisingly easy to learn on a basic, adequately-functional level. I'm told that some other human languages are far, far worse. _

_**I'm not sure whether to be intrigued or baffled.**_

_Indeed. They all have their quirks, though, for better or worse. The one I can speak has a particularly funny—at least to me—word: oxymoronic. It is an adjective, describing a phrase as being self-contradictory. There happen to be at least several oxymoronic phrases that are still grammatically and effectively correct; the phrase 'old news' is an oxymoron, because their word for "news" is a standard plural suffix added to their word for "new". The second part of the word 'oxymoron', 'moron', roughly means 'idiot'. The first part of the word sounds like oxygen—their word for the common element critical to their breathable air—as well as oxen. 'Oxen' is the plural-noun form of a quadruped animal of respectable size and strength. I really do not understand the relation between any of those words, let alone why those relations are what they are. _

_**Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.**_

_You have no idea._

_**I'll take your word for it.**_

_I can take pleasure in the fact that, one day, you won't have to._

_**Have you seen any of their art yet?**_

_It would be pretty hard not to, after several weeks. _

_**And what do you think of it?**_

_That I haven't seen nearly enough of it to even begin describing it in even general terms._

_**So it's complex?**_

_That would also qualify as a general term. _

_**Okay, okay; can you describe any individual, notable examples?**_

…_not really, and probably not for the reasons you'd think. I simply don't know enough about it, and I haven't experienced nearly enough of it, to be able to achieve a significant level of understanding of any individual work. Without context or understanding of the basics, much of the work is misunderstood, unnoticed, underappreciated, or confusing. Kind of like first contact scenarios in general. _

_Still, I suppose I can say that there seems to be quite a lot of it._

_**You seem to be baffled by humanity's seeming inconsistency—does that extend to their military actions as well?**_

_Thus far, yes. I've seen many historical examples of brilliant gambits happening alongside shocking ineptitude and overconfident assumptions. There are also many famous examples of incredible military feats being achieved by succeeding at a course of action thought by everyone else to be totally impossible or suicidal. But my personal favorites are the examples of military leaders understanding and exploiting the psychology of their enemy's leadership, often in amazingly novel and creative ways. If I were to give a tentative, preliminary impression of humanity's military capability—and by extension, their capability as a species—it would be that their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness. They're frequently inconsistent and innovative in unexpected and sometimes creative ways, ways that in many cases seem to be incredibly difficult to predict. _

_**So they can be incredibly unpredictable in both good and bad ways?**_

_They can fail in ways that seem impossible, and they can succeed in ways that never even occurred to you. Sometimes they will quickly come up with the most brilliant, ingenious solution to a huge challenge, and sometimes they will spectacularly fail again and again at a task that should be very easy, even when the solution is known to them. _

_**How do they plan for anything, then?**_

_I'm still trying to figure out that part. My initial impression—which, again, could be completely wrong—is that they struggle, as a society, to function and advance. They care about the impoverished and unfortunate, and attempt to help them in various ways, including societal reformations, but their success rate is tragically inconsistent. The general human populace is astonishingly cynical and distrusting of their government and major businesses, but not because the specific leaders and officials in question are necessarily incompetent or immoral, but because the systems and societies themselves largely enforce the dynamic, despite their continual desire and effort to change it. They seem to be making progress over time, and though that progress is predictably inconsistent and unsteady, it is generally consistent over longer periods of time. _

_**Intriguing. In an abstract sense, I think I understand how that kind of dynamic could form.**__**But at a smaller level, with comparatively small numbers of individuals, how does this work?**_

_[Small laugh] Interestingly enough, in a very characteristically human way. It seems that most humans live their lives upon a spectrum of acknowledgement of the randomness and unpredictability of their societies and situations and adaptability to coping with it. On one end, you have those whom deny or ignore it—to put it in a human phrase, "ignorance or denial is bliss", and on the other end, you have those whom fully accept the unpredictability and uncertainty and view it as one of life's greatest aspects._

'_**Greatest aspects'? **_

_If life is so unpredictable, as the sentiment goes, then anything could happen—good or bad. Not only does that make what we have in the present that much more meaningful and unique, it gives hope that things always can—and might—get better. And because the same also applies for a situation getting worse, it makes the positive aspects of a given situation that much more appreciated and meaningful. We all deal with the same dynamic, of course, but for humans, dealing with it is so much more chaotic and uncertain. _

_There's…this utterly fascinating thing I've noticed about human behavior, or psychology, or whatever. It's very common for them; it's even a standard expression. When conflicted, either about something amusing and trivial or something serious and tragic, they'll say something like 'a part of me feels X, but another part of me feels Y'. It's not just hyperbole, either—they actually experience two very different and almost contradictory mentalities, emotions, and perspectives simultaneously. They are definitely aware of it, but that doesn't seem to solve the dilemma. _

_It gets even more fascinating when you put that in the context of other hints about the biology and psychology of their brains. A notable, if relatively rare psychological malady in humanity is something called 'split-personality disorder'. In essence, one person can have two or more truly distinct identities, personalities, thoughts, and even memories. A common human notion, phrase, etcetera, is that someone should be forgiven for an egregious misconduct because she is 'not herself'—that wording, in particular, speaks volumes. It isn't simply a momentary overreaction from stress overload, as it has many other causes and forms. _

_In a sense, human brains are…'looser', for lack of a better descriptor. They are shockingly flexible, malleable, and fluid. Those same qualities also make it relatively unstable, far less predictable, and not nearly as consistent. The strengths are also the weaknesses, as nothing is perfect in all ways, and very few things are even good in most ways._

_You asked me about their art, and I said that I simply didn't know enough about it to offer generalizations. That's true. But, as standalone, individual instances of intrigue, I've seen one incredible result of that biology and psychology—not something innately human so much as just special in its own right. I was shown a handful of famous, classic scenes from equally classic audio-visual works. And the acting…gods, the acting was so fascinating. So unusual. It was like the actors were, for a time, the actual people they were portraying—I wasn't watching the actor act so much as I was watching the character perform. In all of those cases, the actors were—literally—trying to _be_ their characters. To think like them, feel like them, be like they are in the moment that the scene takes place, and to react like them. _

_And on a general level, humanity has this kind of…tendency, when it comes to works of fiction or art. It's like they put their mind, their feelings, their mindset, into the story, in—in such an intense way that it is _frequently_ more like an experience than a mere story. And they do this in many other ways—it's shocking how much humans tend to internalize their experiences and feelings. A political strategist can get so emotionally and psychologically involved in an abstract challenge that he loses perspective on the actual significance of the challenge, of his original goals, and of the consequences of his actions, directly or indirectly. That same tendency frequently results in similar mentalities of a different nature; many, if not most humans demonstrate an incredible capacity for empathy, be it subconscious or conscious. And, if you're getting the broad idea I'm trying to convey here, there are many other aspects of human psychology that tend to overpower that empathy aspect. _

_**But wouldn't that also make any kind of gains seem relatively meaningless, if they can amount to nothing or be reversed entirely without any kind of warning? I know that all societies and people deal with that on some level, obviously, but for it to be at such a high degree at—seemingly—all levels of their society and culture, regardless of the circumstances, how do they feel confident about anything?**_

_That's the most fascinating part of it all: humanity seems to be, collectively and individually, always walking a narrow and uncertain path between irrationality and insanity on one side and hopelessness and futility on the other. When they strike the right balance, they are capable of astonishing feats. When they are off-balance, they can fail spectacularly when success should be easy. Finding that balance, for them, is very difficult. Maintaining it is a lifelong struggle, one of the most fundamental and eternal subjects of human interest in their entire history._

_**I imagine that might be extremely frustrating to many humans, seeing their species in that light.**_

_It seems to be, yes. Though they do make some interesting comedy out of it._

_**This all just kind of makes me glad that I'm not a first contact operative. I'd lose composure just **_**trying**_** to understand all of this so quickly without any help. I wonder…did playing any games with them help? Something with simple, clear-cut rules? I imagine that would be a much-needed break from the chaos.**_

_I did, yes, though if you think it would be a break from learning about human psychology and dynamics, you'd be completely wrong. There's a famous human saying, something that always makes me laugh when I think about it: 'a master fears not an expert competitor, but a total novice.' [Light chuckle] Do you know why?_

_**I…really have no idea.**_

_Because whereas an expert is relatively predictable and skilled, a complete novice is completely unpredictable, unknowable, and malleable. You have no idea whether or not a novice is even truly aware of the rules of the game. He may misunderstand them, causing him to reach a totally unconventional and crazy conclusion from false information. You have no idea what his strategy might be, or if he even has one at all. You have no idea if your opponent cares more about winning than having fun, or just playing at all. You can't read his moves, or his strategy, because you don't know if he is even correctly understanding all of the aspects of the game. A master is very used to and prepared for the best tactics and strategies of the day, but something that makes no sense and has completely unknowable motivations and thought processes is simply not a threat that a master can adequately prepare for. In many cases, the master won't even be aware that he is not prepared for it. It defies intuition on all but an in-depth level in abstract thought on a bizarre, rarely seen dynamic. _

_**That is a surprisingly insightful analysis for a first-contact representative with only a month's worth of interaction, if I am to be fully honest.**_

_I make no illusions about it—it is a tentative, preliminary guess based on the understandably limited data and testimony available. So, to use a human phrase, "take it with a grain of salt." Don't think of it as conclusive truth, or hard evidence; think of it as a tentative theory based on currently-limited data._

_And much of that data comes from the surprisingly honest and humble testimony and admissions of many humans I've had the pleasure and honor of interacting with so far. Usually in first contact scenarios, the difficulty is discovering the less pleasant aspects of a species' civilization, as they generally want to present themselves as positively as possible. Here, for some reason, it was the opposite—they seem very cynical and disappointed about themselves as a species, and it's hard for them to see the good things they've done or the praiseworthy aspects of their civilization. _

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**A/N:** Well, I hope it didn't crash and burn...

Please let me know what you think! It means a lot to me :)

Oh, and a quick aside note: have any of you heard of (or played) Free Space/Free Space 2/Free Space Open? I would be shocked/gleeful if any of you have played those, especially Blue Planet. Either way, if you're willing to spend 5-6 bucks for many hours of awesome content in a great setting (all of which is free after that initial 6 bucks), look up the Freespace Open Source project, particularly the Blue Planet series and Vassago's Dirge. Let's just say that they're the absolute antithesis of ME3's flaws, the kind of expertly crafted story and package that is intelligently planned out and pays heavy attention to the details. Message me if you have any questions.


	16. The Art in Science

FC CH16

A/N: Well, erm, hello there. I know. I got some 'splainin' to do, but don't worry: I have some good news, too.

To make a long story short while trying to avoid delving too deeply in my personal life, I was nearing the end of the semester when I last updated this story. I had time on my hands, but very limited ways in which I could use it. Thus, I had some time and motivation for writing. I thought that, once the semester was over, I'd have much more time-and more importantly, far better conditions in which to use said time-for writing. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. As I had planned, I had a lot of makeup work to do over the next few months, and coupled with some other major challenges, I didn't really have the time or conditions for writing much.

Thus, the good news: all of that is finally behind me. For the next few months, I'm pretty confident that my writing productivity will drastically increase. I have urges to start new story that's entirely different from the genres/style I've done in the past, in one of several potential IP's-like Shadow of the Colossus, Lord of the Rings, or Halo. The idea is not to abandon FC or anything-on the contrary, the idea is to have multiple outlets for writing, so that I can stay in the habit of writing even if I'm not in the mood or mindset for working on FC. I'd write it as it comes, not simply picking one over the other as part of some plan.

To all of the people who have reviewed this story or sent me a PM about it: thank you, seriously. It's more than I deserve and it never ceases to surprise me. You guys-and the thoughts you express about this story-are the lifeblood of this story. Sharing this experience with you all is more rewarding, interesting, and worthwhile than doing any of it for myself.

Quick note: this chapter is something of an interlude. I have about twice as much as this written up right now, but this chapter contains the only parts I felt were refined enough (or just complete in the first place) to post at the moment, and I desperately wanted to give you guys something before I let the long wait drag on any longer. Next chapter is almost guaranteed to be a heap of some much-needed storytelling, and that's where I have needed (and will need) the most help from my beta, **Skipper311**. This awesome guy has a level of patience that still impresses me, and I hope to have him have a greater hand in the story from this point on.

Now, without further ado, the mythical (undead?) chapter...

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**Chapter 16: The Art in Science**

_"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." -Alexander Pope, "An Essay On Criticism"**  
**_

* * *

_The most surprising thing thus far to come out of the joint-Council races-human wargames think-tank is actually the _lack_ of even remotely conventional ideas. Rather than refinement of existing doctrines or creative variations of proven tactics and strategies, the think-tank seems intent upon immediately dismissing anything that would make even a modicum of sense to the admirals of either side—at least, not without explanation. One theory is that the human experts are simply ignoring anything conventional in order to intentionally focus on the novel. _

_I think we misunderstood them a bit, with regards to military psychology and history. In many ways, yes, they were just a fresh perspective with unique historical and cultural backgrounds—a potentially useful novelty. But here, at least, is something far beyond that: I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of instinctive and/or biological link to their perplexing talent for naval warfare. Perhaps a deep historical link, or cultural reverence; unknown. _

_For every ten ideas they throw out into the brainstorm, nine of them will be impractical at best and foolishly suicidal at worst. But the remaining one will be something that is both intriguing and seemingly practical enough that it can't be ignored. It turns out that humans have a saying for that kind of feeling, that dynamic: 'refuge in audacity'—the idea that a course of action is so bold, unforeseen, nonsensical, and bewildering that its chances of success are much greater than it technically should have. Not an entirely foreign concept, but the human experts we brought in treat it like an art. It isn't just something they usually consider—it's their _first_ consideration, almost every time. _

_The most consistent notion they've forwarded is to throw out the doctrine of using dreadnaughts as strategic, defensive deterrents. They argued that the dreadnaughts and their strategic impact were 'largely wasted due to extreme predictability, passivity, and reluctance to commit to any kind of decisive action—unless the decisive action was forced upon it'. In other words, by being predictable, passive, and strictly defensive, dreadnaughts are more strategic obstacles than warships, and thus a grossly inefficient use of resources that could be put to better use. They did, however, reject the notion that dreadnaughts are inherently inefficient or impractical, emphasizing that the dreadnaught design standards and deployment doctrines are merely…'outdated'. Extreme irony aside, our consensus was that a major refit of existing dreadnaughts and a revision to their deployment doctrines would achieve a dramatic improvement in naval efficiency._

_In the event of intense warfare before that transition can be completed, their solutions were…intriguing. The alternative doctrines varied considerably, but they all generally followed the same basic principle: dreadnaughts were to be aggressive, unpredictable, and decisive. Even if dreadnaught losses mounted, they argued, it was far more important that they were used to throw off the enemy's plans decisively and change the momentum of a war, rather than predictably sitting out of the action until the war's outcome was already decided. _

_Though we insist that their argument seriously undervalues the sheer deterrent power of defensively deployed dreadnaughts, we do concede that it is far more likely for the enemy to have developed counters to such defensive deployment due to expecting its certainty and predictability. Given these circumstances, we deem it worth the risk to utilize our dreadnaughts to seriously disrupt the enemy's strategy and sow serious doubt and hesitation into their deployments, even if only for the short-term. _

_And as intriguing as we find Case Delenda Est, the situation would have to be drastic for such extreme risks and novel tactics to be worth trying. Also, putting the vital assets of Contingency Bastion at major risk is currently deemed unacceptable, as per [REDACTED]. _

_One outstanding note worth mentioning: modern dreadnaughts are currently classified as having two very distinct roles, at least in human eyes. The unique and powerful range advantage of a dreadnaught fills the role of artillery and fire support, they say, while its massive array of secondary, broadside-fixed cannons is ideal for line-engagements, maneuver warfare, and adaptable tactics in slugging matches. Their conclusion is that, by filling both roles so strongly, modern dreadnaughts suffer staggering shortcomings in their theoretical performance potential. _

_It goes on to state that the two roles are inherently opposite of each other, and historically dreadnaughts have never filled both roles adequately in a tactical- or strategic-level engagement. Modern dreadnaught design is best broken up into two major subsections, they say: faster, cheaper, and more specialized artillery ships, and smaller, more heavily armored, and more maneuverable battleships of the line. _

_Human naval theorizing—or "brainstorming" as they sometimes call it (perplexing, really: how is a storm—a manifestation of chaos, unpredictability, and extreme weather conditions—supposed to metaphorically represent _anything_ positive with regards to the brain?)—seems to have developed a dramatic shift in warship design and philosophy. Its emphasis on very rapid, reasonably precise, highly coordinated FTL jumps to conduct naval maneuver warfare on a scale and degree never before employed is as interesting as it is concerning. Such intentional overspecialization of warship designs would mean that foes resistant to "alpha strike" shock FTL jumps could throw a navy reliant on rapid, precise, specialized warfare into total disarray. On the other hand, the human experts quickly responded to such criticism by saying that it would be foolish to overspecialize an _entire _navy for such warfare, but having it as a specialty of an element of one's navy provides a plethora of flexible tactics and strategies. _

_Currently, a number of Anedraastani-class light cruisers are being refitted to experiment with this philosophy, with their heavily modular construction allowing rapid (and therefor practical) modification for such specialization. Broadside guns are being swapped out for FTL-drive capacitors, NAV computers for improved rate and accuracy of FTL jumps, and additional fuel reserves. Forward-oriented main guns are being augmented for greater damage potential and range, with modifications to allow for the increased power draw and heat management. One experimental variant has sacrificed most of its armor, secondary armament, and all of its main guns to allow for a dreadnaught-level spinal cannon to be mounted. While lacking the range of the 'real thing', it fully achieves the power of the weapon and maintains enough of a range advantage to allow the cruiser's superior agility to compensate. Another variant further along in development is a "carrier" refit, wherein most of the ship's firepower is exchanged for increased strike craft capacity, munitions storage, and fuel/supplies for longer deployments without logistical support—these vessels are intended for harassment and unpredictable raids on enemy logistics, supply convoys, and rear-line targets of opportunity. STG, Spectres, and elite asari units have expressed interest for use as a special operations platform; will relay developments as they come._

_Lastly, conceptual outlining of 'Varunastra'-type mass driver systems has reached initial component- experimentation phase. Simulations predict a significantly reduced range and speed for the projectile, but with substantially greater effect on target at all velocities. Even at very low velocities, a sufficiently heavy projectile could deal tremendous damage on impact—the tradeoff being that landing such a hit would require firing at point-blank range. Salarian admiralty has expressed considerable interest in arming frigates with this weaponry, believing it to be an excellent augmentation to their existing battle doctrines. _

* * *

"I'm just saying, the possibilities are practically endless, and you settle for the most boring, simplistic application as the state of the art?"

Wavela was tempted to give a try at rolling her eyes—an extremely odd, but interesting gesture she'd seen plenty of in recent days—at Keigo. "We choose basic mass driver setups because they are cheap, reliable, versatile, scalable, and effective enough to neutralize any target in a reasonable amount of time." She paused, looking at the pair of playing cards in her hand, trying to decide her next move. This bizarre gambling game—"Texas Hold Um", she thought John called it (a strange name, especially with the nonsensical stalling phrase at the end—surely she misheard it), was amusingly difficult. Apparently the real competition of the game came from psychological warfare, deception, and probability; humans being thus far impossible for her to predict, she was at a loss. Even Morlon, who could now manage decent (if slow) communication with humans via the rudimentary translation software she had created, couldn't fare much better than her despite a mastery of probability mechanics.

"Well yeah," Kate commented, throwing a few colored chips into the center pile, "but what happens when some other guy comes along with something ten times as effective?"

"Then we improve, holding the line with what we have, or simply win outright in spite of it," Wavela answered, deciding to call John's raise. "But that's incredibly unlikely to happen in the first place. Few entities have the resources and expertise needed to even create such advanced technology, and anything they'd create would be very impractical for such high production costs."

"What makes you say that?" John asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. "Technology advances all the time. Eventually, the impractically expensive thing of today will be the cheap standard of tomorrow."

"It's a case of diminishing returns," she explained. "While there are many useful military applications of the mass effect, as far as practical weaponization goes, the simple, reduced-mass heavy projectile fired from a railgun is the most cost-effective and versatile technology there is."

"I seriously doubt that," Keigo remarked, eyes not leaving the five cards laid out in the center of the table.

Wavela couldn't help herself. "Suddenly you're an expert in mass effect physics and military applications?"

To her surprise, Keigo barely even reacted to her challenge. "Don't need to be," he said, sounding even more casual than usual. But unlike before, she noticed, he seemed _deliberately_ nonchalant, like he was actively suppressing some other feeling. "The mass effect itself is a useful tool to open up new options, but it doesn't need to be a one-trick-pony to make a simple weapon more effective."

Morlon, having long-since folded, managed to follow the conversation well enough to understand Keigo's expression. After speaking a sentence into his light-duty omnitool, a monotone translation played back from the device: "What options are you thinking of?"

To her shock, Wavela saw small smirks form almost simultaneously on each of the three humans present, even though none of them were looking at or otherwise communication with each other.

Sounding almost bored—though as Kate would tell her later, exasperated in actuality—Keigo lounged back in his chair as he listed the options, extending fingers sequentially as he went. "For starters, you could fire a nuclear warhead-cored projectile instead of a solid slug, so you'd get a big kinetic impact along with a huge explosion, all of which would be travelling at relativistic speeds. Simply design the warhead to be physically detonated by the impact itself, and make the projectile sturdy. You could make things interesting by lightening the mass of laser-excited plasma and shooting it in a concentrated stream at relativistic speeds, using a magnetic bottle. You could have large torpedoes filled with huge antimatter warheads, fired from a larger ship, which then makes a single precision-jump right into the face of the target before detonating. Or—"

"Keigo—" John tried to edge into his friend's rant, but it was futile.

"—you could make a Yamato Cannon: basically a contained, directed nuclear fusion blast which is then mass-lightened and shot out at relativistic speeds at a target. You could make a negative-mass corridor and stream antimatter through it, or laser-excited plasma. You could weaponize the mass effect itself, projecting powerful mass-raising and mass-lowering fields on the same ship and ripping it apart. You could make a torpedo that does a single precision jump right up to its target, which then detonates a shaped-blast of thermite or extreme-heat payloads, which would largely ignore mass effect barriers because the heat energy would still go right through, heating up the target to dangerous levels. Or you co—"

"I think she gets it, Keigo," Kate quipped, suppressing a chuckle.

Having been watching Keigo during his rambling rather than Wavela, neither Kate nor John noticed the dumbfounded expression on the asari's face.

_That's…how…what?_ Wavela was struggling to wrap her mind around all of the ideas she'd just heard and how casually someone with seemingly no military or weaponry expertise came up with them. Even if none of them were truly practical, the fact that someone like him had even _thought of_ them in the first place was absurd. After a few moments of unexpected silence, the human trio turned to see the asari's reaction with confusion.

"Wavela? You okay?" Kate waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of her distracted shock. "Earth to Wavela…"

Keigo slammed his head down onto the table. "You did _not_ just do that…"

"I'm not sure whether to laugh or punch myself in the face," John added. "Though I can't really blame you; someone had to be the first, and the temptation must have been overwhelming."

"What?" The asari was even _more_ confused, now, to her continued frustration.

"Never mind," John said. "Did anything Keigo said bother you? You just went all…silent and distant, there."

Regaining her composure, she did her best to answer. "No, he did not say anything…bad. I was just very surprised. I did not think Keigo was so learned or…interested…in theoretical military technology and development."

"I'm not," Keigo said, looking more curious than confused.

She blinked, trying to understand this seeming contradiction. "So…then…how did you get all of those ideas?"

He blinked back at her, the same blank expression of bafflement on his face. "I, uh, just kind of…thought of them."

"When?" she asked, wondering when in the past several days he had taken the time for this much brainstorming and research.

"Erm…a minute ago?" Keigo lifted a hand to scratch his ear, seeming every bit as lost as the asari. "Pretty much when you asked me the question. Why?"

Unable to respond, Morlon picked up the slack. "Does weapon design come naturally to humans?" his translator awkwardly put out.

"Huh?" Despite his tone, Keigo seemed far less perplexed now. "That's not really weapon design…that's just some normal brainstorming. Just think of what you already know about science and technology, and then add the possibilities of the mass effect to that. Don't you…haven't you guys already thought of all those?"

Wavela decided not to go with her first answer of 'no, because they're all _insane_ and could not possibly be practical', and chose a more diplomatic "I can't say; I imagine such research and development is classified, and I don't even interact with the military aspect of things."

"That makes sense, actually," John said, satisfied by the answer. "Okay, I'm all in." He pushed his considerable pile of chips towards the center, and Wavela's jaw went slack.

She immediately folded, knowing better than to invest further in a round that obviously had much better hands in play than her own.

Kate glared at John for an entire minute, who didn't even meet her gaze while looking bored out of his mind. "I'm not falling for that, you bastard," she shot at him, moving her pile of chips towards the center. Wavela thought for a moment that Kate had actually meant to insult her friend, but she quickly realized it to be friendly banter by the smile on the woman's face.

Keigo groaned, his head falling to the table's surface with a solid _thunk_.

"Show 'em," John challenged, partially flipping his pair of cards. Kate threw cheap drama out the window and revealed them straight away, displaying a three-of-a-kind.

"You need to work on your bluffing," Kate remarked.

John finished flipping over his pair of cards, revealing a straight. "On the contrary."

Scant moments after Kate's smirk turned into slack-jawed surprise, Keigo tiredly blurted out from where his face was still buried in the table. "Ugh, _Kate_. That was the most obvious fake bluff I've ever seen."

"I _know_," Kate shot back, crossing her arms with a huff. "It was _too_ obvious. I thought he was trying to make his real bluff more convincing by making it overly suspicious."

"When have I _ever_ gone to that much trouble in a poker game?" John countered, looking almost horrified at the notion.

Wavela felt like joining Keigo in burying her face in the table.

* * *

_Mssg-FWD: ICCW Report 17-3c-1_

_[Material Classified. Check Clearance…]_

_[Sufficient Clearance Confirmed. Decrypting…]_

_Interspecies Collaboration on Conducting Warfare Report 17-3c-1_

_Written and Compiled by [REDACTED]_

_Discussion between human and nonhuman members of the strategic and tactical brainstorming group—talking about the utterly massive differences humanity has/had in the fundamental nature of how land warfare and naval warfare were conducted. _

_[…skipping to 75% marker…done]_

_This goes a long way towards explaining the immense difference in nature of how humans have conducted naval and land warfare. _

_In essence, ground warfare is far more individualistic by nature—even in the blocky, disciplined formations of sword-bearing armies, maintaining discipline, group cohesion, and commitment to action was a constant struggle for even experienced units. Commanding them on an operational and strategic level was extremely difficult. Naval warfare is fundamentally different—even when commanding many ships as an admiral, an admiral can reasonably expect each individual ship to act like a sufficiently cohesive, disciplined whole. Each ship acts as its own unit, as the physical reality of a crew all being on the same boat (in the middle of a vast ocean where survival can otherwise be measured in minutes or hours) enforces such a status quo. Given that such morale and cohesion effects are self-fueling cycles, having a constant, physical bias towards cohesion makes a tremendous difference for humans. _

_In ancient human warfare, successfully coordinating an army at operational and tactical levels was an extremely difficult task. Morale was not merely an abstract, indirect concern that manifests over time, but a major and immediate factor in any engagement. Whereas a lone soldier feels isolation, confusion, desperation, etc, when fighting alone (or feeling like one is fighting alone), a lone ship feels the opposite. After all, without the ship, no one is going to survive—so even those who break discipline or determination will usually contribute to the ship's wellbeing, though with severely reduced effectiveness. _

_To convey the gist: the most critical factor in a human army's effectiveness is its coordination and communication, not its weaponry, advanced training, or familiarity with the terrain. One doesn't even have to look far back to see when some of the biggest game-changers in a given battle were preparing effective and innovative means of communications and coordination. To quote one of the central tenets of the ancient, influential, and utterly fascinating human text 'The Art of War', "all warfare is based on deception." Humanity having a general consensus supporting this notion says a great deal about their psychology and military history: information, misinformation, and lack of information is, to them, what warfare revolves around. Armies are the agents of force to achieve objectives, but knowing and not knowing various information is a more important and influential aspect of the conflict than force of arms. While this sounds just like a basic salarian military ethos on the surface, the key difference here is that for salarians, the information warfare is constant and distinct from the physical warfare, where violent action is a tool that comes into play at the proper times to brute-force their way to otherwise unattainable objectives; for humanity, information warfare—or intelligence, as they call it—is a completely different concept in peace or war. In peace, openness about intentions, general goals, and relationships is paramount; in war, every tool of deceit is brought to bear as the first line of defense and offense in the physical sense: the deceit is not at all used to avoid conflict but rather to decisively conclude it. That kind of deceit is, to humans, a central tactic of warfare that almost completely doomed to disaster if employed outside of warfare (with a few notable exceptions, granted, but the general point still stands)._

* * *

**A/N:** Whelp, hope it isn't horrendously sloppy. I've been very lenient in that regard for a long time in this story, perhaps to too much of a degree (or for too long).

Please, let me know what you think! Your thoughts and ideas about the plot, the writing, the format, etc., are what drives this story (and where it goes and how it gets there). What parts of this story do you like best, and worst? What would you like to see more of (or for the first time) in the story?

(Also, yes: the "Texas Hold Um" thing was intentional; I originally screwed up by making it too unclear to really tell, so thanks again to Skipper311 for catching that one!)

Until next time!


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